Jurgen Klopp describes Liverpool's crop of young players as 'exceptional' after a 6-1 win over Sparta Prague

Jurgen Klopp praised Liverpool’s “exceptional” crop of young talent for digging his side out of an injury crisis after a 6-1 thrashing of Sparta Prague kept The Reds on course for a quadruple of trophies.

Klopp’s kids played a vital role in beating Chelsea to lift the Carabao Cup last month and helped the team into the FA Cup quarter-finals, where they face Manchester United on Sunday.

Liverpool also sit joint top of the Premier League and are favourites to send Klopp off at the end of the season by also winning the UEFA Europa League.

The Reds will discover their quarter-final opponents in Friday's Europa League draw, live on TNT Sports.

Bobby Clark scored his first goal for the club during a four-goal blitz in the first 14 minutes against the Czechs at Anfield.

Cody Gakpo scored twice, while Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai were also on target, but Klopp reserved special praise for 19-year-old Clark and Jarell Quansah, who at 21 has become a regular this season at centre-back.

“He played incredible,” said Klopp of Clark, who was forced off with an injury in the second half.

The German coach continued: “But the steps the boy made, he and again Quansah. It’s really, really good. It’s so nice we had such a difficult situation with the injuries and then the boys stepped in and took their chances - it’s exceptional. Really happy about that.”

Mateusz Musialowski became the latest youngster to be handed his debut when the 20-year-old replaced Clark for the final 15 minutes.

“Mateusz deserves it as well,” added Klopp. “Players develop differently. He’s an exceptional talent but obviously here at the club we see football in a specific way, I really think he’s now ready.”

Despite a hectic schedule and a 5-1 first-leg lead, Klopp named a surprisingly strong line-up. Salah made his first club start since January 1 and was forced into playing the 90 minutes as Klopp had already made four substitutions by the time Clark got injured.

Nunez, Joe Gomez and Wataru Endo were replaced at half-time to give them a rest before Virgil van Dijk replaced Quansah.

“We don’t come in to get through somehow because I didn’t expect us to lose 5-0 but it is up to us to decide how good a game it will be,” said Klopp. “The boys enjoyed their football and did exceptionally well.”

West Ham, Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen, AC Milan and Roma are among the sides that could await Liverpool in the last eight of the Europa League.

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