Liverpool leads 5-1 on aggregate in the Europa League last-16 second leg.
Jurgen Klopp has claimed that he will choose a Liverpool lineup capable of continuing to create momentum against Sparta Prague.
The Reds enter tonight’s Europa League last-16 second leg encounter at Anfield with a 5-1 aggregate lead following last week’s defeat in Prague. Liverpool is in the midst of a demanding match calendar and will meet Manchester United in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Sunday in their quest to capture four trophies this season.
The extended injury list has stretched the Reds‘ squad. And given their big advantage, some may believe Klopp might make sweeping changes and grant chances to youngsters like as Bobby Clark, James McConnell, and Lewis Koumas.
However, Klopp has stated that Liverpool will field a team with the ‘best legs’ capable of defeating Sparta on the night. According to the Reds’ manager, it’s crucial to perform well in every football game. Sometimes you have to chase a game, and if we lost the first game 1-0, you can’t ignore that, or if we drew, you just have to win the game first and foremost, and then you’ll see how much that means and what kind of results you can get.
“And for us, it simply means that we want to play the best football game possible; that has always been the way we decided on the lineup. I couldn’t tell even if I wanted to, you know what I’d do right now.
“I wouldn’t but I couldn’t [anyway] because after that I go to the training ground and in these times you wait until the last second and then everybody tells you, ‘He has a niggle here, he has a niggle there and he might need an extra day’ or these kind of things.”We had that yesterday with a couple players that needed an extra day, so let’s see how things look today before I make a decision on the lineup.
“But the plan for the lineup is to have the best legs for that game because that’s what we need, because we have to forget the [first-leg] outcome, I would say, but not the performance, and they had enormous chances against us. They gave us a lot of trouble at times.
“Caoimh [Kelleher] had to make a couple spectacular stops, and that’s what I remember, not how we scored the goals or anything like that, since that was primarily individual quality. There were some nice football situations, but it was mostly about individual talent. We need to maintain our rhythm throughout this season. It’s not about on and off; it’s about maintaining the rhythm and keeping going.
Don’t think about the following game on Sunday, even if the opponent is Manchester United.”
Dominik Szoboszlai is one of the players expected to start. The midfielder was on pre-match media duties ahead of the game, which is normally a sign that he will start. Szoboszlai has recently returned from a hamstring injury and has had an impressive debut season since joining from RB Leipzig for £60 million, scoring six goals and assisting four times in 31 games. However, the Hungary skipper believes he can improve even more.
Szobszoali stated, “Maybe it’s not [just] because of my injury; we can say due of my ailment, but it also occurs that you have extremely good games, less-good games, and awful games. We’re also not flawless. I don’t think any of us [in] any of the games fully demonstrated what he is capable of. But, especially on my side, I work hard every day to get in the greatest form possible. Most likely, the best shape was not at the start of the season. I can do even better.”
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