Liverpool set for challenging European tie after securing knockout round spot

Liverpool secured a spot in the UEFA Youth League knockout stages, but now face a tough challenge in the round of 32 after the New Year.

Although Liverpool’s first team is still not fully assured of progression to the Champions League knockout rounds, their situation is nothing like the tension felt by the Academy on Tuesday afternoon. In their final UEFA Youth League match at Girona, with under 10 minutes remaining, the Liverpool under-19s were 2-1 down and heading for elimination after a red card for Ranel Young in the first half had reduced them to 10 men.

However, an impressive late equaliser from Trent Kone-Doherty earned a point and kept Liverpool’s hopes alive of finishing in the top 22 of the 36-team group and advancing to the last 32. They needed other results to go in their favor, and a few hours after the final whistle at the Estadi Municipal de Olot, Liverpool’s qualification was confirmed when both Paris Saint-Germain and Bayer Leverkusen failed to win.

“I’m delighted we have gone through,” said Barry Lewtas, the team’s manager. “I thought we started brilliantly against Girona. Playing away from home in Europe is never easy but I thought we passed the ball well, and I think when we took the lead it was deserved. The red card changes the game, which was disappointing from our point of view.”

Lewtas was pleased for Kone-Doherty, praising his performance, saying, “I was pleased for Trent and I thought we were a threat on both sides. He took his goal great and even though Girona had lots of crosses into our box in the second half, I thought overall with how we performed with 10 men we probably deserved that.”

The red card for Young, coming just six minutes after Jayden Danns had opened the scoring from the penalty spot, was a point of contention for Lewtas. “What’s disappointing for me was I don’t think they got a yellow card in the game,” he commented. “For ours to be a red card is tough but decisions are made, and for us it was trying to find a way of getting a result. They are a good team and they haven’t lost a game so to do what we did with 10 men was fantastic. We showed great character.”

Liverpool finished the first phase with eight points, having won at home against Bologna and Bayer Leverkusen, drawn at AC Milan, but lost to RB Leipzig and Real Madrid at Kirkby. With the knockout rounds pairing teams that finished in the top six with those in 17th-22nd, Liverpool, who finished 19th, now face a challenging tie when the competition resumes in February. Despite the tough road ahead, Lewtas believes the level of competition has been excellent.

“We’ve had six really good challenges and six really good games,” he noted. “The level of quality in this competition has been really good.

“We lost in Leipzig and that was probably fair, but it was frustrating we couldn’t get something out of the Real Madrid game. We conceded early and missed some good chances. Overall, our level of performances have been really good but the odd slip-up at the top level can really cost you.”