Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says his team 'should have done better' despite beating Sparta Prague 5-1 in the Europa League.
The Reds have almost secured their spot in the quarter-final after cruising to a comfortable win in the first leg of the last-16 tie.
Alexis Mac Allister opened the scoring from the penalty spot before a superb Darwin Nunez brace made it 3-0 before the break.
Conor Bradley's own goal then reduced the deficit before Luis Diaz and a late Dominik Szoboszlai strike added gloss to the visitors' win.
Liverpool news: Jurgen Klopp gave a surprise reaction to his team's win over Sparta Prague
Getty
But Klopp insists his team were far from their best despite the heavy scoreline.
Asked if the score was harsh on Sparta, the German said: "Yeah. So, the result is much better than the performance, that's true.
"Sparta played a good game; Sparta took some risks in our possession, they [were] hiding wingers slightly [and] our protection was not good, so they could create these counter-attacks.
"We lost a few unnecessary balls, which is then difficult to protect, but in other moments we should have done better."
Klopp admits his team did improve but insists the scoreline doesn't tell the story of the match.
He added: "We adapted during the game and could again actually tell the boys in half-time how we should do it, but then we conceded a goal immediately.
"But after that it was then not that we controlled it much better and Sparta had chances I think, I am not 100 per cent sure.
"But I think two of the big chances they had looked for me offside and Caoimhin [Kelleher] made a save and we never saw the flag then. Nobody watched these situations back but that's fine.
"But, how I said, Sparta took risks, we punished them for that in other moments, we scored wonderful goals, we had good moments in the game, really good moments in the game and we are not like that, that we think coming here is a walk in the park.
"It obviously was not a walk in the park, we had to work a lot, but we did not expect an easy game and it was not.
"But it was a good result and now we fly home, recover and in seven days we meet again.
"We try really hard like you could see tonight, my team fought as well.
LATEST SPORTS NEWS:
Liverpool news: Jurgen Klopp wanted more from his team despite winning Sparta Prague
Getty
"It was not like we were sloppy in the way like we thought, 'Yeah, we can do this [playing] at 80 per cent.' Not at all.
"We made mistakes, that's human, but we fought really hard and I saw the dressing room afterwards and the boys felt the intensity of the game and were happy about the result."
Liverpool were forced to make a sub when Ibrahima Konate went off injured early in the second half.
Klopp says he hopes the Frenchman will be fine ahead of Sunday's huge match against Manchester City, while also confirming Joe Gomez was taken off at half-time as a precaution.
Liverpool news: Ibrahima Konate was forced off through injury against Sparta Prague
Getty
Asked about Konate, Klopp said: "We don't know [yet]. Ibou said to me when he passed me in that moment, 'I thought if I do another sprint then it could be bad.'
"So, he said he should be fine, but we don't know.
"Joey is fine. We took him off, he played a lot of games so that was more rotation, precaution. Now let's see what is with Ibou."
