ReactionJürgen Klopp press conference: Sparta Prague win, 'wonderful' goals and Darwin Nunez
Jürgen Klopp lauded the 'wonderful goals' his Liverpool side scored during the 5-1 win away at Sparta Prague in the Europa League.
The Reds took charge of their last-16 tie against Czechia's champions with a clinical display in the first leg on Thursday evening.
Alexis Mac Allister opened the scoring at Stadion Letna from the penalty spot after seven minutes, and Darwin Nunez then netted with a pair of sublime hits.
After Conor Bradley's own goal at the start of the second half, Luis Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai extended the visitors' advantage ahead of next week's return fixture.
Read on to see what Klopp had to say at his post-match press conference…
On whether the final scoreline was harsh on Sparta…
Yeah. So, the result is much better than the performance, that's true. Sparta played a good game; Sparta took some risks in our possession, they [were] hiding wingers slightly [and] our protection was not good, so they could create these counter-attacks. We lost a few unnecessary balls, which is then difficult to protect, but in other moments we should have done better.
We adapted during the game and could again actually tell the boys in half-time how we should do it, but then we conceded a goal immediately. But after that it was then not that we controlled it much better and Sparta had chances but I think, I am not 100 per cent sure, but I think two of the big chances they had looked for me offside and Caoimh [Kelleher] made a save and we never saw the flag then. Nobody watched these situations back but that's fine.
But, how I said, Sparta took risks, we punished them for that in other moments, we scored wonderful goals, we had good moments in the game, really good moments in the game and we are not like that, that we think coming here is a walk in the park. It obviously was not a walk in the park, we had to work a lot, but we did not expect an easy game and it was not. But it was a good result and now we fly home, recover and in seven days we meet again.
On Nunez's recent form and goals…
He had an absolutely more-than-OK first season but he had to adapt, that's done, [he is] settled in the middle of the team. Wonderful guy, wonderful boy, loves to play for this team and this club together with these boys, and he has quality coming out of his ears, to be honest. But it's like strikers are: sometimes they score, sometimes they don't score. Is he already at his absolute peak in general? Not now for us, and can he develop? Yes. Is he a threat all the time? Yes, as well. And he has the most important attitude a striker needs to have – he misses chances, which all strikers are doing, but he is not really bothered by it. He just keeps going and that is why he has now a nice number of goals. There are still games to come, opportunities to score. Even when he is not scoring, he is for us incredibly important because he is just a constant threat and gives us some spaces in areas and options to use.
On how strong his desire is to win the Europa League before he leaves Liverpool in the summer…
Probably the question is, 'How big is the desire to win a European trophy?' And yeah, it would be cool, but nothing to do with that [his departure]. Last year when I stayed, I wanted to win something but it was just not possible, so yeah, nobody has to worry about that. We try really hard like you could see tonight, my team fought as well. It was not like we were sloppy in the way like we thought, 'Yeah, we can do this [playing] at 80 per cent.' Not at all. We made mistakes, that's human, but we fought really hard and I saw the dressing room afterwards and the boys felt the intensity of the game and were happy about the result. So, we keep trying.
