Telegraph|They were the youngest team in the club’s history, with an average age of just over 19, but Liverpool’s involvement in the Carabao Cup this season is over after a peculiar night at Villa Park.
Aston Villa are into the semi-finals for the first time since 2013 after thrashing a Liverpool team whose manager and first-team players are over 3000 miles away in Qatar.
Jurgen Klopp will insist he had no choice as his senior squad prepare to face Monterrey in the semi-final of the Club World Cup on Wednesday, and, while it was arguably a nadir for this much maligned competition, Liverpool’s display still offered hope for the future.
With under-23s coach Neil Critchley standing in as manager, it is a game that will go down in Liverpool history and there were hugely encouraging performances from many of their players, including 16-year-old forward Harvey Elliott and midfielder Herbie Kane.
Elliott was one of the best players on the pitch and it could have been an even more memorable night for Liverpool if Villa’s goalkeeper, Orjan Nyland, had not performed so impressively.
Villa are now dreaming of Wembley after the five-time winners recovered from a sloppy start to score four goals in the first half, with substitute Wesley adding the fifth deep into added time.
Dean Smith, the Villa head coach, and his assistant John Terry visited the Liverpool dressing room after the final whistle to offer their congratulations.
“I told them they have a really talented group of young players who made it very difficult for us at times,” said Smith. “There were a few players out there who will be playing in the Premier League in the next three or four years.
“It was a no-win situation for us because everyone expected us to win and if we’d lost it would have been a disaster.
“This is the first major competition of the season and it was a weird feel to it. We would have loved to be playing Liverpool’s first team but they had no choice in the matter.
“We’ve completed a professional job and this club has a proud history in the competition.”
It was billed, perhaps cruelly, as Liverpool’s youth team versus Villa’s reserves before kick-off.
Liverpool’s team had an average age of just 19 years and 182 days and five players – Tony Gallacher, Isaac Christie-Davies, Luis Longstaff, Morgan Boyes and Thomas Hill – made their debuts.
With so many rookies in the Liverpool line-up, Smith had described the game as “a free hit” but still made 10 changes to his own team that lost at Sheffield United last weekend.
It felt like a big gamble from Smith early on, as Liverpool dominated the early proceedings, with Elliott drawing the first save from Nyland after 10 minutes.
Nyland was only making his second appearance of the season and was required again seconds later, saving from Kane and then watching Elliott slice the loose ball into the side netting.
With jeers from the home support reverberating around this famous old arena, Villa badly needed a response and, to Smith’s relief, it came in the 14th minute.
The goal came from the trusted left foot of Conor Hourihane, with the midfielder bending in a free-kick from out wide on the right and the ball squirming under Caoimhin Kelleher.
Villa added a second three minutes later, in fortuitous circumstances. Ahmed Elmohamady, the right-back, was clearly intending to cross but the ball took a wicked deflection off Boyes to loop over Kelleher.
Liverpool continued to probe, with Elliott a constant danger on the right of a front three, but any faint hopes of reviving the tie were put beyond them eight minutes before half-time.
This time it was Jonathan Kodjia who provided the goal, running onto Jota’s pass in space and placing the ball under Kelleher.
Kodjia claimed the fourth on the stroke of half-time, converting from close-range after fine work from Jota and Elmohamady, and it was becoming the heavy defeat Liverpool must have feared.
Liverpool could have opted for damage limitation but were clearly intent on finding a consolation. Early in the second half, Nyland produced a brilliant reflex save to prevent Kane’s improvised flick from finding the top corner.
Yet Villa had further chances, with Egypt international Trezeguet going close twice, and Wesley added the fifth goal in injury time.
Mission accomplished for Villa, who needed this victory after a run of disappointing results, while there was a satisfactory evening for captain James Chester, making his first appearance since January 26 after a succession of knee and hamstring issues.
For Liverpool, the European champions no less, this was a strange old night, but Critchley admitted he was “incredibly proud” of the performance.
He said: “We went right to the end and played like a Liverpool team. I think 5-0 is quite a harsh scoreline for us.
“The manager [Klopp] sent a message at half-time to pass on some advice and to keep doing what we were doing.
“We didn’t want it to end, I was so proud of the way we played and approached it.
“We haven’t chosen [to play the game], it was the best solution. It was a special evening for them and try telling them it wasn’t worth it.
“The conduct of the Villa players towards our players was first-class and what Dean and John said to us after the game will stay with us for a long time.”
Match details
Villa (4-3-3): Nyland 8; Elmohamady 7, Chester 7 (Hause 77), Konsa 7, Taylor 6; Lansbury 7, Douglas Luiz 7, Hourihane 7; Jota 6, Kodjia 7 (Wesley 73 6), Trezeguet 6. Substitutes Kalinic (g), Guilbert, McGinn, Grealish, El Ghazi.
Liverpool (4-3-3): Kelleher 5; Hoever 6 (Norris 82), Van Der Berg 6, Boyes 5, Gallacher 6; Chirivella 6, Kane 6, Christie-Davies 6 (Clarkson 77 6); Elliott 7, Longstaff 5 (Bearne 65 6), Hill 6. Substitutes Winterbottom (g), Clayton, Dixon-Bonner, Stewart. Booked: Christie-Davies, Kane.
Referee: Lee Mason (Cheshire)