MO SALAH returned to action to give Liverpool a huge boost ahead of Sunday’s Premier League battle with Manchester City.

The Egyptian international, who had not featured since February 18 due to a recurrence of a hamstring issue, replaced Luis Diaz in the 74th minute for only his third Liverpool game of 2024.

Darwin Nunez scored twice as Liverpool romped to victory over Sparta Prague

Mo Salah also made his return from injury for the Reds

Within 10 minutes of his introduction, Salah thought he had struck a fifth goal but it was ruled out by VAR for offside.

By then, Liverpool had effectively put both feet in the Europa League quarter-finals with a penalty from Alexis Mac Allister, a Darwin Nunez double and the fourth from Luis Diaz.

In injury-time, Dominik Szoboszlai made it 5-1 to make next Thursday’s second leg a formality.

Sparta, who trailed 3-0 at the break, pulled one goal back in the first minute of the second half thanks to an own goal by Conor Bradley.

Yet despite the Czechs missing a few chances, Liverpool were always in command.

And the only worry ahead of Sunday’s game was an injury to Ibrahima Konate while Joe Gomez was also replaced at half-time.

Konate appears to have suffered an injury

Van Dijk had to come on the field to replace him

Liverpool were not at their best but they did not need to be against a poor Czech side.

Sparta pressed the self-destruct button after five minutes when Mac Allister was kicked to the ground by Asger Sorensen and the Liverpool midfielder sent keeper Peter Vindahl the wrong way.

Nunez marked his 50th Liverpool start by creating something out of nothing with a dipping shot from outside the area although bungling home keeper Vindahl dived past the shot.

It was the 1000th goal Liverpool have scored under Jurgen Klopp

With the final kick of the first half, Nunez scored his second goal of the game, beating Veljko Birmancevic’s open goal for Sparta into the far corner.

Bradley replaced Gomez at halftime, and 39 seconds into the second half, the young right-back hammered the ball into his own net—something Klopp would not have predicted.

With a deflected shot, Diaz scored the fourth, and after VAR denied Salah, midfielder Szoboszlai made it 5-1 from the edge of the area, though the keeper was again at fault.