Liverpool booked an FA Cup quarter-final tie at Manchester United as an inexperienced Reds side beat Southampton 3-0 on a memorable night for the club’s academy.
Jurgen Klopp named six academy graduates in his starting XI as Liverpool combatted the absence of several senior names and saw his youthful side repay that faith in style.
Lewis Koumas marked his senior debut with the opening goal, as the 18-year-old jinked inside and fired a deflected effort into the bottom corner. Southampton had had the better openings across the opening 45 minutes, but Liverpool took control after the break.
Jayden Danns came off the bench to score his first Liverpool goal, on only his third appearance for the club, lifting a delicate finish over Southampton goalkeeper Joe Lumley from a narrow angle.
Danns made it a brace on a breakthrough evening for the 18-year-old, who followed up a rebound from Conor Bradley’s shot to slam in his second of the game.
There was time for 16-year-old Trey Nyoni to become Liverpool’s third-youngest player ever off the bench, as Klopp’s kids again impressed with senior involvement.
“It was a special week for all of us. I do the job for a little while and you don’t have weeks like that too often,”Klopp said to BBC Sport.
“This was a tough game in a horribly difficult situation for us. We have to accept it and see who we can line-up. Today the solution was Joe Gomez playing six for the first time in his life. We were all over the place in the first 15 minutes, the pressing was horrendous. We had problems and Southampton used that. Caoimhin [Kelleher] saved us a lot with top saves.
“After 15 minutes the high press got a lot better, the midfield press we tried to sort at half-time. Football is not easy and if you’ve got momentum you’ve got to keep it. We got it back and scored two wonderful goals in the second half.
“Danns you could see that second goal coming, he has that nose. We saw it in the final. He had that luck and he was there to score that goal. It was a wonderful game to watch.”
Liverpool remain in the hunt for four trophies this season as the Reds look to add to the Carabao Cup. Klopp’s team continue their Premier League title challenge at Nottingham Forest this weekend.
