Despite leading 5-1 from the first leg, coach Jurgen Klopp still fielded a strong lineup to welcome the Czech Republic representatives in the return leg at home. Darwin Nunez and 19-year-old Bobby Clark helped Klopp's army get off to a smooth start before Mohamed Salah marked his first start since January 1 with a goal and three assists.
Liverpool easily into Europa League quarter-finals
Cody Gakpo scored to help Liverpool quickly take a 4-0 lead after just 14 minutes to comfortably head to the away match at MU in the FA Cup quarter-finals this weekend.
Veljko Birmancevic reduced the score for Sparta Praha, but Dominik Szoboszlai and Gakpo scored in the second half to seal a 6-1 victory, sending the "Red Devils" into the quarter-finals with an 11-2 aggregate score. With this victory, coach Klopp's army continues to maintain its ambition to win a historic quadruple of titles this season (Premier League, Europa League, FA Cup and English League Cup). In particular, Liverpool won the English League Cup with a victory over Chelsea late last month.
Elsewhere, Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso, widely tipped to succeed Klopp at Anfield, continued his German side's unbeaten run in all competitions this season, with Patrik Schick scoring a stoppage-time brace to beat Qarabag 3-2 and book his place in the quarter-finals 5-4 on aggregate. The visitors took a surprise 2-0 lead through Abdellah Zoubir and Juninho, but the Azerbaijan champions paid the price for playing the final 30 minutes with 10 men after Elvin Cafarguliyev was sent off.
Leverkusen made a spectacular comeback to maintain their unbeaten record this season.
Another English side, West Ham, came from 1-0 down in the first leg to beat Freiburg. Goals from Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen, Aaron Cresswell and Mohammed Kudus (2 goals) helped David Moyes' side to a big win at home and reach the quarter-finals of the European competition for the third consecutive season.
Meanwhile, Brighton, despite a 1-0 win over AS Roma, could not overturn a 0-4 defeat in the first leg. Despite losing 1-4 on aggregate, Brighton can still hold their heads high with their achievements in their first appearance in the European Cup.
Benfica ended hosts Rangers' hopes of progressing in the Europa League with a 1-0 win in a downpour in Glasgow to secure a 3-2 aggregate victory. Rafa Silva finished from Angel Di Maria's cross in the 24th minute to send the Portuguese side through to the quarter-finals.
AS Roma continues to play well under new coach De Rossi
Seven-time European champions AC Milan also advanced to the quarter-finals with a 3-1 win over Slavia Prague in the Czech capital. Three quick first-half goals from Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Rafael Leao secured the Italian side's title hopes for the season.
Villarreal ended Jean-Louis Gasset's unbeaten run as Marseille coach but a 3-1 win in the second leg was not enough to see the Spanish side through as they lost 5-3 on aggregate. Meanwhile, Atalanta beat Sporting Lisbon 2-1 to progress 3-2 on aggregate.
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