Liverpool on Thursday surged toward the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals with a 5-1 win at Sparta Prague, while AS Roma thrashed Brighton & Hove Albion 4-0 in the Italian capital.
AC Milan beat 10-man Slavia Prague 4-2, but Xabi Alonso’s Bayer 04 Leverkusen had to come from 2-0 down to preserve their unbeaten season in a 2-2 draw against Qarabag.
Liverpool remain on course to send Juergen Klopp off with a quadruple of trophies as the Reds were not distracted by tomorrow’s mammoth English Premier League showdown against Manchester City.
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Klopp named a strong side and got what he wanted by killing off the tie in the first leg, even if there was a price to pay in further injury problems as centerback Ibrahima Konate limped off.
Alexis Mac Allister got the visitors off to the perfect start in the Czech capital as he won and converted a penalty after seven minutes.
Sparta dumped out Galatasaray in the previous round and created plenty of chances against a makeshift Liverpool defense, but the difference in quality between the two sides showed in the final third.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Darwin Nunez’s dipping shot from long range outfoxed Peter Jensen to make it 2-0, before the Uruguayan smashed home Mac Allister’s through-ball in first-half stoppage-time.
“He has the most important attitude a striker needs to have in these chances,” Klopp said of Nunez. “He’s just a constant threat, and he gives us some spaces and areas and options.”
Conor Bradley replaced Joe Gomez at halftime and his first act was to fire into the top corner of his own goal one minute into the second half, but Luis Diaz’s deflected effort quickly restored Liverpool’s three-goal cushion.
Mohamed Salah made his comeback from a hamstring injury as a substitute and thought he had marked his return with a goal, but a video assistant referee review disallowed his strike for offside.
Instead, it was another substitute, Dominik Szoboszlai, who fired in the fifth in stoppage-time.
Brighton’s first foray into European soccer looks over at the round-of-16 stage after the Seagulls were thrashed by in-form Roma.
The Italian giants have only lost once in 10 games since legendary former player Daniele de Rossi replaced the sacked Jose Mourinho in January.
“I’m not doing anything out of the ordinary,” De Rossi said. “I’m very happy, but they’re really good players. They’re winning matches that they should be winning.”
Paulo Dybala was perfectly picked out by Leandro Paredes to open the scoring, before Romelu Lukaku pounced on an error by Brighton captain Lewis Dunk to double Roma’s lead before halftime.
Gianluca Mancini and Bryan Cristante struck in the second half to round off a miserable trip for the visitors.
Two Brighton fans were stabbed in a robbery the night before the game.
Leverkusen are well on course to win their first-ever Bundesliga title, but have work to do to reach the Europa League quarter-finals.
Yassine Benzia and a brilliant piece of skill from Juninho had Azeri champions Qarabag in dreamland just before the break.
Alonso had rested a number of his key players and the German side improved with a series of changes after halftime.
Two of the Spaniards substitutes, Florian Wirtz and Patrik Schick, scored in the final 20 minutes to preserve Leverkusen’s unbeaten record in 35 games in all competitions.
AC Milan were given a helping hand at the San Siro by an early red card for Slavia Prague defender Malick Diouf.
Olivier Giroud, Tijjani Reijnders, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Pulisic were on target for the Italian giants, but David Doudera’s stunning volley and Ivan Schranz’s strike gave Slavia hope.
SL Benfica twice came from behind, but Rangers have the upper hand going into the second leg at Ibrox after a 2-2 draw in Lisbon.
West Ham United have work to do after losing 1-0 to SC Freiburg.
The Hammers had beaten the Germans twice in the group stage, but Michael Gregoritsch scored the only goal nine minutes from time to give Freiburg a slender first-leg lead.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice in Olympique de Marseille’s 4-0 humiliation of 10-man Villarreal.
Jordan Veretout and Yerson Mosquera’s own-goal had already put the French side in front before Aubameyang’s brace either side of halftime took his tally for the season to 21, nine of which have come in the Europa League.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
LONG TIME COMING: With the addition of Marcus Smart, the Washington Wizards finally held a team to under 100 points, the last team this season to do so The Detroit Pistons on Monday won their seventh straight game in the NBA with in-form Cade Cunningham making 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a 106-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Pistons, who are in the playoff position, moved to 32-26, their best record at this stage of a season for 17 years. It was an all-round effort from Detroit with Tobias Harris adding 20 points and Jalen Duren making 19 rebounds along with his 12 points. It was a tight contest until Detroit pulled away late in the third quarter to tie their longest winning streak since the 2014-2015
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