Sparta Vs Liverpool Europa League: The Red Many Rotations

JAKARTA - Liverpool visited Sparta Prague headquarters, Letna Stadium, in the first leg of the last 16 of the Europa League 2023/2024, Friday, March 8, 2024, early morning WIB.

The Reds visited with a mission to continue their quadruple (four titles in a season) this season.

Three players have returned from injury, but Jurgen Klopp is likely to rotate. You see, three days after fighting Sparta, they have to face tough opponents in the 2023/2024 Premier League, Manchester City.

No wonder, Klopp must gather a team so as not to get tired of facing important matches against league title challengers.

Caioimhin Kelher is expected to keep Adrian and Alisson Becker's crossbar short for at least another month.

The left-back may be filled with Kostas Tsimikas replacing Andy Robertson. Tsimikas is one of the players who has recovered from injury.

Choices in the right-back sector are abundant. At least there are Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley who can be prepared next to Trent Alexander-Arnold who have to rest.

The heart of defense also has many options. Apart from Gomez who can also be a center-back, there are still Jarell Quansah and Ibrahima Konate to replace Virgil van Dijk.

Van Dijk must rest in the Europa League in order to be fit when Liverpool meet Manchester City.

The midfield line cannot be separated from the sector that has been rotated. The return of Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo to the squad allowed Klopp to rotate.

Meanwhile, Curtis Jones, Ryan Gravenberch, Thiago Alcantara, and Stefan Bajectic are still in the treatment room.

Endo will enrich Liverpool's game because he is a versatile player. The Japanese player is most likely a starter with Mac Allister.

In addition, two other names in midfield could belong to James McConnell and Harvey Elliott. Layers on the bench are also abundant.

Klopp has prepared Dominik Szoboszlai and young players, such as Bobby Clark, Jayden Danns, Kaide Gordon, and Trey Nyoni who just debuted last week at the age of 16.

Shifting to the attacking sector, Klopp doesn't seem to be doing too much rotation. At best, only Mohamed Salah was backed up.

Darwin Nunez showed that he was able to be trusted to start when Diogo Jota and Ben Doak were injured.

It was Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz who could be an option to accompany Nunez.

Despite making many changes, Liverpool remained above the wind. The Red has never lost in the previous two meetings.

Liverpool meet Sparta in the 2011 Europa League. As a result, the Reds won 1-0 at Anfield and drew 0-0 at Sparta home.