Liverpool thrash Sparta, Leverkusen, West Ham, Milan advance

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool hammered Sparta Prague 6-1 on Thursday to storm into the Europa League quarter-finals 11-2 on aggregate while Bayer Leverkusen staged a dramatic turnaround to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against Qarabag.

Liverpool were 4-0 up within 14 minutes thanks to goals by Darwin Nunez, Bobby Clark, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo. Serbian striker Veljko Birmancevic pulled one back for the visitors before the break, but Liverpool continued to dominate.

“It was on us to decide how good a game it would be and obviously we enjoyed playing football, some fantastic goals as well early on. From that point on it becomes a difficult game, like how do you keep going?,” Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp told TNT Sports.

Leverkusen secured a 3-2 home victory over Azerbaijani team Qarabag, with Patrik Schick’s stoppage-time brace ensuring a 5-4 aggregate win and extending Leverkusen’s unbeaten run to 37 games. Brighton & Hove Albion’s effort to bridge a four-goal deficit against AS Roma proved futile as they could only manage a 1-0 home victory, Danny Welbeck’s curler a consolation in the Italain side’s 4-1 aggregate win.

“As I said before, nobody will be happy to play against Roma either in this competition. Looking at the options, whoever we get will be exciting,” Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.

Atalanta secured a hard-fought 2-1 home victory over Portuguese side Sporting, with Ademola Lookman and Gianluca Scamacca turning the match around for the hosts to seal a 3-2 aggregate win for the Italian team.

AC Milan cruised into the quarter-finals with a 3-1 victory over Slavia Prague, securing an aggregate 7-3 victory after Slavia’s Tomas Holes was sent off early in the match. West Ham United overwhelmed Freiburg 5-0, securing their largest victory in a major European competition and advancing to the last eight 5-1 on aggregate.

Olympique De Marseille eliminated 2020-21 competition winners Villarreal, despite a valiant effort from the Spanish side who secured a 3-1 win but could not prevent a 5-4 aggregate win for the French side. Scotland’s Rangers suffered their first home defeat against Portuguese opposition in a UEFA competition fixture, losing 1-0 to Benfica and 3-2 on aggregate..