Europa League Roundup: Liverpool Hammer Sparta For Five, Roma Thrash Brighton

• Premier League leaders Liverpool thrashed Sparta away from home
• Italian powerhouse Roma made light work of Brighton in Italy
• Here is a roundup of the Europa League round of 16 first-leg games

As the 2023/24 UEFA Europa League advances towards its final stages, the distinctive outline of the Dublin Arena, the venue for the final, begins to emerge on the horizon.

The round of 16 welcomed back the group winners, including Liverpool and Brighton, along with a trio competing against teams that finished just below them, eager to resume their winning ways.

Sports Brief presents a roundup of the notable games that took place on Thursday, March 7th.

Liverpool hammer Sparta

Liverpool advanced to the Europa League quarter-finals with a commanding 5-1 victory over Sparta Prague, while Roma dominated Brighton with a 4-0 win in the Italian capital.

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Alexis Mac Allister provided a perfect start for the visitors in the Czech capital, converting a penalty just seven minutes into the game.

Despite Sparta's previous win over Galatasaray, they struggled to breach Liverpool's makeshift defence. Nunez extended the lead to 2-0 with a long-range shot, followed by another goal just before halftime.

Conor Bradley's unfortunate own goal early in the second half added to Liverpool's advantage. Although Mohamed Salah's goal was disallowed for offside after a VAR review, substitute Dominik Szoboszlai sealed the 5-0 victory with a goal in stoppage time.

Roma destroy sorry Brighton

Brighton's debut European campaign seems to be nearing its end in the last-16 stage, as they were heavily defeated by an impressive Roma side.

Since the appointment of former player Daniele De Rossi as manager in January, Roma have lost just once in 10 games.

Arsenal hammer Newcastle to keep title pressure on Liverpool, Man City

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Paulo Dybala opened the scoring after being expertly set up by Leandro Paredes, while Romelu Lukaku capitalized on an error by Brighton captain Lewis Dunk to double Roma's lead before halftime.

Gianluca Mancini extended the lead with a goal from Stephan El Shaarawy's cross, and El Shaarawy also played a pivotal role in setting up Bryan Cristante to complete a dismal outing for Brighton.

Leverkusen's unbeaten run remain intact

Leverkusen are well on course to win their first-ever Bundesliga title but have work to do to reach the Europa League quarter-finals.

Yassine Benzia blasted into the roof of the net to give Qarabag the lead.

A brilliant piece of skill from Juninho to round goalkeeper Matej Kovar and slot home then had the Azeri fans in dreamland just before the break.

Florian Wirtz's cool chipped finish 20 minutes from time gave the Bundesliga leaders a foothold in the tie.

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Patrik Schick then headed home in stoppage time to preserve Leverkusen's unbeaten record in 35 games in all competitions this season.

Aston Villa draw black at Ajax

Aston Villa played out a goalless draw at Ajax on Thursday in the first leg of their Europa Conference League last-16 tie.

Both sides finished with 10 men in a closely-contested match that generated little action in front of goal.

Ezri Konsa was first shown red for the visitors for a second bookable offence in the 82nd minute, before Ajax's Tristan Gooijer picked up a second yellow four minutes later.

Gregoritsch strikes late to sink West Ham

A late tap-in from Michael Gregoritsch gave Freiburg a 1-0 victory against West Ham in the first leg of their Europa League last 16 tie on Thursday.

Europa Conference League holders West Ham almost took the lead after 65 minutes, but Freiburg goalie Noah Atubolu denied Jarrod Bowen with a superb save.

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Gregoritsch scored just 11 minutes after coming on, tapping in from a metre out, his fifth goal in seven Europa League games.

West Ham thought they had a late handball penalty, but Freiburg survived a VAR review to hang on to a slender lead ahead of next week's second leg in London.

Liverpool boss Klopp opens up on 'retirement'

Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool's departing manager, hinted at the possibility that he might not manage another team after Liverpool with a subtle 'retirement' comment on Thursday, March 7, as reported by Sports Brief.

Following Liverpool's impressive 5-1 victory over Sparta Praha in the Europa League last-16 first leg, a journalist posed an intriguing question to the 56-year-old about whether he saw any Sparta Praha players worth signing in the future.