Last night's 0-0 draw was an abysmal game with the Reds, rather than Sparta, looking as if they'd had a three month winter break without a match. However, Kuyt believes it will be a different story in the second leg at Anfield.
"You always want to win and we wanted to win here but it was a tough pitch and a tough team who defended really well. The most important thing for us was not to concede and we did that and did it well," he said.
"We said before the game: don't concede and if we score a goal we're in a great position. We did one of those things, not the other, but a draw away in the latter stages of this tournament is good.
"We wanted to try and pinch a goal but it didn't happen. Now we have to show at Anfield that we are better than them.
"We'll be able to express ourselves more at Anfield. We'll play on a better pitch and so the tempo can be higher. We'll move forward a little bit quicker and I'm confident we can win."