Darwin Nunez Scores Liverpool's 1,000th Goal of the Jurgen Klopp Era During a 5-1 Win in Prague

Liverpool took a massive stride towards the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night by beating Sparta Prague 5-1 in the Czech Republic in the first leg of their round of 16 tie.

A sixth-minute Alexis Mac Allister penalty kick fired the Reds in front before Darwin Nunez netted twice to make it 3-0 by half-time.

Conor Bradley scored an own goal shortly after the interval but Luis Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai wrapped up a big away victory.

Highlights: Sparta Prague 1-5 Liverpool

Nunez's first goal of the night came courtesy of a spectacular dipping effort from long range.

This was Liverpool's 1,000th goal since Jurgen Klopp became the club's manager in October 2015.

The Klopp era had delivered 1,003 Liverpool goals by the end of the night - at an average of 2.11 per match over the German's 476-game spell in charge.

Elsewhere in the Europa League on Thursday, Brighton & Hove Albion lost 4-0 at Roma, while Bayer Leverkusen needed a 92nd-minute equalizer to draw 2-2 at Qarabag and maintain this season's unbeaten record in all competitions.

West Ham lost 1-0 to Freiburg in Germany, while Rangers and Benfica drew 2-2 in Portugal.

AC Milan beat Slavia Prague 4-2 at the San Siro with Christian Pulisic among the scorers.

Darwin Nunez pictured celebrating by kicking the corner flag after scoring two goals for Liverpool in a 5-1 win over Sparta Prague on Thursday

IMAGO/CTKPhoto/Ondrej Deml