Sparta trip helps Liverpool players. Fans less excited

Sparta Prague 0 Liverpool 0. After the drama of the Champions League this week and the stirring displays of Spurs and Arsenal, Liverpool brought English football fans down to earth with a bore draw in Prague.

Despite the lack of goals, however, Reds boss Kenny Dalglish was satisfied with the result, knowing it leaves his side well placed to progress from the last 16 of the Europa League when Sparta travel to Anfield next week for the return leg. "It was a difficult game for us," admitted Dalglish, who was never able to manage Liverpool in Europe during his first spell in charge in the late 80s because of the Heysel ban. "But circumstances dictated the way we played with the players we had available. Nil-nil is not the best result we could have got but it is not the worst either."

Dalglish had opted to leave Steve Gerrard on Merseyside in order to rest his recent groin injury, and new signing Luis Suarez was ineligible, so David Ngog played as a lone striker  and there was also an appearance off the bench from England midfielder Joe Cole. But Dalglish resisted the temptation to blood18-year-old right-back John Flanagan or 16-year-old striker Raheem Sterling, both of whom were included in the squad after their standout performances for Liverpool Under-18s this season.

"The game in some ways served its purpose because the lads will gain great benefit from that and the young lads [from the academy who travelled] have gained experience," said Dalglish, whose Liverpool side is now unbeaten in its last seven outings.

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher was also putting a brave face on the result despite the fact his side failed to get a shot on target the whole night against a Sparta side that was playing its first competitive match after a three-month winter break. "A goalless draw's always a decent result," he said. "You'd like the away goal but I'd say it's advantage us. We've been scoring some goals recently and we haven't done that tonight but in Europe it's slightly different, we're quite pleased with a goalless draw and it was good experience for a few players."

In the other Europa League tie featuring a British side, Glasgow Rangers were held 1-1 at home by Sporting. The Portuguese side went behind to a Steven Whittaker goal on 66 minutes but Matias Fernandez headed a last-minute equaliser to give them the edge in next week’s second leg in Lisbon. ·