[ad_1]
Liverpool did what was expected and beat Aston Villa’s youngsters 4-1 at Villa Park but the scoreline did not reflect the true story of the game.
Three second half goals were needed from Jurgen Klopp’s side to progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup after surprisingly finding themselves level at the break.
The entire Villa first-team squad were ruled out of the match due to a severe coronavirus outbreak.
The club’s academy players had to step in to ensure the game could go ahead and faced a strong Reds team.
Sadio Mane opened the scoring after just four minutes and it seemed as though the young Villa side would be in for a long night.
But the home side were well organised and gave the Premier League champions a tough time.
Their one real chance of the first half fell to former Barcelona youngster Louie Barry and he grabbed it with both hands.
Callum Rowe’s pass put Barry clean through and he calmly beat Caoimhin Kelleher.
Villa went into the break at 1-1 and perhaps dared to dream that they may be able to pull off one of the unlikeliest FA Cup victories.
The first-half performance was more than respectable from the youngsters and first-team star Jack Grealish agreed.
He wrote on Twitter: “What a first half that is from the lads, every single player excellent. @LouieBarry brilliant composure.”
It was not to be, though, as Liverpool made no mistake in the second half scoring three times to put the game to bed.
Georginio Wijnaldum restored Liverpool’s lead on the hour when he found the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Two minutes later Mane made it 3-1 when he looped in a header from 10 yards for his second goal.
Salah then found the bottom corner after 65 minutes, making it four for Liverpool in a matter of minutes as the Villa players tired.
The score stayed at 4-1 but the home side can be proud of their efforts.
[ad_2]
Source link
Comments are closed.