Liverpool hammer Sparta Prague 5-1 with Nunez double

PRAGUE: An early penalty by Alexis Mac Allister and a Darwin Nunez brace helped Liverpool to thrash Sparta Prague 5-1 in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday.

Liverpool, who qualified for the knockout rounds as group winners, dominated the game and were up 3-0 at the break, edging closer to the quarter-finals. After Mac Allister was taken down inside the box, the Argentine gave Liverpool the lead from the spot in the sixth minute.

He sent Sparta keeper Peter Jensen the wrong way as he fired into the bottom corner. Nunez doubled the advantage from a distance in the 25th, squeezing in his shot just under the bar to notch up the 1,000th goal during Juergen Klopp’s tenure.

The Uruguay forward thenmade it 3-0 in first-half stoppage time after he received a lofted pass from Mac Allister to slot home from the edge of the box. Liverpool substitute Conor Bradley scored an own goal just after the break but the visitors restored their three-goal lead in the 53rd minute through Luis Diaz.

Substitute Mohamed Salah thought he had extended Liverpool’s lead to 5-1 but his goal was ruled out by VAR for offside. However, Dominik Szoboszlai added a fifth in injury time.

In the other early kickoff, AS Roma secured a 4-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion. Paulo Dybala opened the scoring in the 12th minute and Romelu Lukaku doubled their lead before the break following a one-on-one with goalkeeper Jason Steele. Defender Gianluca Mancini made it 3-0 for the hosts in the 64th minute before midfielder Bryan Cristante completed the rout four minutes later with a header.