Thursday, March 14, 2024 — Mohamed Salah has become the first Liverpool player to score 20+ goals in seven consecutive seasons in a row as Liverpool secured a dominant 6-1 win over Sparta Prague on Thursday, cruising into the Europa League quarter-finals with an 11-2 aggregate victory.
The Egyptian forward was in scintillating form as the Premier League giants tore apart Sparta Prague in the second-leg of their Europa League meeting. After Darwin Nunez and Bobby Clarke had scored in the opening eight minutes, Salah then got in on the action himself.
The Reds were ruthless in the opening minutes, scoring four goals within 14 minutes through Darwin Nunez, Bobby Clark, Mohamed Salah, and Cody Gakpo.
It is the seventh season in a row that Salah has scored at least 20 goals for the Reds. No other Liverpool player has ever managed that feat.
The previous record was held by former forward Ian Rush, who scored 20+ goals in six consecutive campaigns between the 1981-82 and 1986-87 campaigns. Salah’s latest heroics will be a much-needed boost for manager Jurgen Klopp.
Salah has been struggling with injury issues, while the Reds were 5-1 up on aggregate ahead of the return leg at Anfield. Speaking ahead of the game, Jurgen Klopp said: “It’s possible it would have been possible for him to play longer in the last game [against City], but it was just the game, how it was.
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Sparta Prague pulled one back before halftime, but Liverpool remained in control, adding goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Gakpo (his second) to complete the rout.
In another Europa League clash, Bayer Leverkusen staged a dramatic comeback against Qarabag.
Trailing on aggregate, Leverkusen secured a last-gasp 3-2 win at home with a stoppage-time brace from Patrik Schick.
This result extends their unbeaten run to a staggering 37 games.
Brighton & Hove Albion fell short in their Europa League tie against AS Roma.
Despite a 1-0 home victory with a goal from Danny Welbeck, they were unable to overturn a 4-goal deficit from the first leg, resulting in a 4-1 aggregate defeat to the Italian side.
Atalanta secured a hardfought 2-1 home victory over Portuguese side Sporting, with Ademola Lookman and Gianluca Scamacca turning the match around for the hosts to seal a 3-2 aggregate win for the Italian team.
• Additional reports from Mirror and Reuters
