Sparta Prague’s manager gave a brutally honest assessment of his side after they were thrashed by Liverpool at Anfield.
Liverpool eased into the Europa League quarter-finals after dispatching Sparta Prague 6-1 at Anfield to win the tie 11-2 on aggregate.
Jurgen Klopp’s side scored four goals in seven first-half minutes to put the last-16 tie to bed before Sparta Prague pulled one back through Velko Birmancevic.
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Liverpool added another two in the second half to claim their biggest-ever aggregate win in Europe.
After the game, Sparta boss Brian Prisk was full of praise for the Merseyside club.
Prisk said: "Big respect to Liverpool how they played these two legs, the level from Sparta to Liverpool is massive. It is a completely different level.
"We never faced something like this. Liverpool is a Champions League team and they should be playing in the Champions League."
Liverpool fans on X heaped praise on the Sparta manager for his comments.
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One person said: “Kudos to him, he saw greatness and knew his team had to chance.”
Another said: “Good luck to Sparta, respect.”
A third added: “I feel bad for them. Class manager.”
A fourth said: “The man has seen the peerless best side in world football and taken like a champ. You have to respect that.”
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Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp told TNT Sports after the victory: "In seven years together with him, the one problem we never had was consistency. Mo is just delivering and delivering and delivering, his desire doesn't stop, his quality is there and his desire to score doesn't stop.
"He has improved in so many aspects since he started here. That's how it is, he will not stop.
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"I'm less surprised than maybe some others, I thought it had already happened to be honest but he was injured for a while, otherwise he would have done it in January or February.
"But great, very good, and great to have him back.
"It was not the plan he plays 90 minutes, the plan was to take him off when we brought on Mateusz (Musialowski) but Bobby Clark said (he felt something) and Mo is experienced enough that he recovers during the game.
"I told him not to defend any more - I never told a player that before."
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On the performance, Klopp added: "The boys started the game incredibly well and 4-0 up in 14 minutes is really strange.
"From then on it became a strange game because how can you now stay greedy?"
Topics: Liverpool, Europa League, Jurgen Klopp, Mohamed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk, Champions League
Chris Byfield