Just days after lifting the Carabao Cup with an injury-depleted squad, Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool returned to domestic cup action on Wednesday evening as they welcomed Southampton to Anfield.
Once again, Klopp would be forced to rely heavily on his youngsters as the injury crisis at the club continues to force AXA talents to take centre stage.
LIV: Kelleher; Tsimikas, van Dijk, Quansah, Bradley; Clark, Gomez, McConnell; Kommas, Gakpo, Elliott
SOU: Lumley, Manning, Bednarek, Stephens, Bree; Rothwell, Charles, Aribo; Kamaldeen, Mara, Edozie
Six players aged 21 or younger featured in Jürgen Klopp’s starting lineup on Wednesday – but with the match coming less than a week after an exhilarating 120-minute-long cup final at Wembley Stadium, his youthful squad looked ineffective at best for much of the first half
That was until Lewis Koumas opened the scoring with a minute remaining before the break, as the 18-year-old latched onto a Bobby Clark pass before firing his deflected effort into the bottom corner to hand the Reds the lead.
Koumas was replaced in the second half by Jayden Danns, who himself only made his Liverpool senior debut last week in the club’s victory against Luton Town. He starred in Sunday’s final, and would write his name in club history yet again on Wednesday as he ran onto Harvey Elliott’s forward ball to dink an effort over Joe Lumley and double the lead.
Embed from Getty ImagesHis goalscoring exploits were not over there though – with two minutes remaining at Anfield, the youngster smashed home a rebounded effort after Lumley had only been able to parry away Conor Bradley’s initial shot. In completing his brace, he became the youngest Liverpool player to score twice in a match since 1997.
Liverpool now know that they will face Manchester United in the quarterfinals of the Emirates FA Cup, but the Reds must first turn their attention to Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Southampton face Birmingham City.
