Football fans on social media believe Liverpool will easily make it into the UEFA Europa League quarterfinals after Sparta Praha were announced as their Round-of-16 opponents.The first leg of the tie between the leaders of their two respective leagues is set to take place in Prague on Thursday, March 7. The return fixture at Anfield is scheduled for exactly a week later.
As the news made it onto social media, fans on X (formerly Twitter) provided a wide range of reactions. Most expressed confidence in the Premier League giants’ chances, while a few hinted that they rigged the draw.
This last-16 clash will notably be the second instance of these two teams meeting in the Europa League in this century. They previously met in the Round of 32 stage during the 2010-11 season.
On that occasion, the sides drew 0-0 in Prague, while Dirk Kuyt scored the winner for the Reds at Anfield, giving them a 1-0 win on aggregate. However, they lost in the very next stage by the same scoreline to Portuguese outfit Braga.
A brief look at Liverpool and Sparta Praha’s UEL journeys this season
Sparta Praha were placed in Group C of this season’s Europa League, while Liverpool were in Group E.The Czech outfit had Rangers, Real Betis and Aris Limassol in their group. They began with a 3-2 win over Limassol before losing 2-1 away to Betis. Sparta Praha followed it up with a 0-0 draw at home to Rangers, but lost 2-1 to the Scottish side at the Ibrox.They ended their group-stage campaign with wins over Betis (1-0) and Limassol (3-1) to finish second. In the playoffs, they beat Galatasaray 6-4 on aggregate, winning 4-1 at home after a 3-2 defeat in the first leg in Turkey.
Their opponents, meanwhile, were grouped with Toulouse, Union Saint-Gilloise and LASK. Liverpool beat LASK 3-1 and USG 2-0 to begin their campaign before thrashing Toulouse 5-0 in their third fixture.Jurgen Klopp’s side then lost 3-2 to the French side away from home, but bounced back by beating LASK 4-0 at Anfield. The Reds’ final game ended in a 2-1 defeat to USG, but their status as table-toppers was already confirmed by then.
