Match report: Aston Villa 1-4 Liverpool
Paul Doyle was at Villa Park to see Liverpool’s class and fitness see them past a plucky team of whelpish upstarts plucked from Villa’s academy.
Mark Delaney speaks ...
“We’re all very proud, as a club, as coaches and as players,” says Villa’s academy coach. “It was a monumental effort really, considering what the players have had to go through in the past couple of days.
“I thought, first half, they had a lot of ball and a few chances but I thought we thoroughly deserved to come in at 1-1. We scored a good goal as well - we were very pleased at half-time.”
On not buckling after going an early goal down: “I thought we reacted very well after going a goal down. We tried to get after them and put them under pressure.
On Louie Barry’s goal: “Three or four passes and a lovely through ball - we said if Louie got a chance he’d put it away because he’s a natural goalscorer. We see it in training every day, but to do it on this stage was impressive.”
Jurgen Klopp speaks ...
“It was a little bit more of a challenge than it should have been,” he tells BT Sport. “First of all we have to say that the kids did really well, so that’s good. We had football problems and in the second half we solved those football problems with football. We needed a little bit longer but from then on it was completely clear and completely comfortable and completely how it should have been.”
Louie Barry speaks: “The ball came through from Rowie and I knew that I had it as soon as I seen it,” says Villa’s 17-year-old goalscorer in an interview with BT Sport. “I put the ball in the back of the net and obviously it was the proudest I’ve ever been in myself.
“I’ve never been so proud of a team before - from start to finsi hwe worked so hard. When I scored I thought we might have a chance but obviously it wasn’t meant to be. I was cramping up towards the end but with age comes more physicality and mentality.”
James Milner speaks: “They’re a good set of lads,” said Liverpool’s veteran, who made his debut for Leeds before five of the lads in question wewre born. “They put a shift in. In the first half they got the goal to keep playing. We got the result in the end but not an ideal situation for our team.
“We had a situation where we got into areas but we didn’t get the final ball - that has happened in the past few games. We needed to keep working hard and pushing things to get things right. One of their lads said he hadn’t played for two months.”
Louie Barry: At the end of the game, Villa goalscorer Louie Barry swapped shirts with Fabinho as they walked off the pitch.
Upon being told by his coach that he might want to keep his debut shirt for posterity, he darted down the tunnel and asked Fabinho if he could have it back. The Brazilian was happy to hand it over.
Elsewhere in the FA Cup: Wolverhampton Wanderers have knocked out Crystal Palace, with Adama Traore getting the only goal of the game at Molineux.
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Full time: Aston Villa 1-4 Liverpool
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeep! It’s all over at Villa Park, where Aston Villa youth players have been beaten by Liverpool. They went in at half-time harbouring notions of a miracle after Louie Barry had cancelled out Sadio Mane’s opener.
However, their hopes of causing the biggest upset in FA Cup history were dashed by a second half blitz, the goals coming from Gini Wijnaldum, Mane and Mo Salah. Liverpool go into the hat for the second round, but Villa’s youngsters leave the field with their heads held high.
90+2 min: Sil Swinkles boots a Thiago pass into the Villa penalty area clear. And that’s it - Craig Pawson blows the final whistle.
90+1 min: On the sideline, Mark Delaney continues to bark encouragement at his young charges. It’s a night he’ll remember too.
90 min: We’re into added time. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain tries his luck with a shot from distance but his low effort bounces wide of the left upright.
89 min: Sil Swinkles does well to dispossess Neco Williams with a perfectly timed tackle inside his own penalty area.
88 min: The clock ticks down as Liverpool continue to try to add to their goal tally. However many they score in the closing minutes, the youngsters of Aston Villa have not only avoided embarrassment but given an absolutely tremendous account of themselves despite Liverpool’s second half blitz.
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85 min: Still without a goal to name as a Liverpool player, Thiago goes close to breaking his duck. From the edge of the Villa penalty area, he whips the ball over Onodi only to see his effort hit the bar.
85 min: Thiago tries the thread the ball through a wall of defenders for Firmino, but his pass is blocked.
83 min: Milner and Thiago combine down the left flank before playing the ball in to Frimino. He cuts inside from the byline and lashes the ball into the side-netting from a tight angle.
80 min: That other Villa substitution: Sil Swinkels on for Callum Rowe. Both teams have used their permitted five replacements.
78 min: Kaine Hayden is the latest Villa player to go down with cramp and receives a helping hand from his goalkeeper. Elsewhere on the pitch, Mamadou Sylla is struggling with lactic acid issues.
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76 min: It took a couple of minutes to make those substitutions, but play eventually resumes. Oxlade-Chamberlain sends a cross in from the right but overhits his delivery. The ball eventually comes to Origi, who fires straight at Onodi from distance.
72 min: Liverpool show no signs of mercy, keeping Villa under siege in their own penalty area. With several Villa players on the ground suffering from cramp, they make two more substitutions: Teddy Rowe replaces Jake Walker and ... I’ll get back to you with the other one.Liverpool double-substitution: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Divock Origi replace Mo Salah and Sadio Mane.
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70 min: Villa’s players are visibly tiring and it’s no great surprise. Thiago is repeatedly stretching them hither and yon with his range of pinpoint accurate passes from deep out to the each touchline.
68 min: Mane fires over on the turn as Villa struggle to defend another corner. Harrison Sohna has replaced Arjan Raikhy in the Villa ranks, while Hayden Lindley is on for Lamare Bogarde.
67 min: Villa substitutions in the past couple of minutes: Brad young on for Ben Chrisene and ... eh, more news as I get it.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-4 Liverpool (Salah 65)
Salah scores: Thiago plays the ball to Salah’s feet, the Egyptian standing with his back to goal about eight yards out. He spins and fires the ball low into the bottom corner. The floodgates are open.
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GOAL! Aston Villa 1-3 Liverpool (Mane 63)
Mane gets his second. And it’s another header. The Senegalese international leaps behind Jake Walker and steers a looping header past Akos Onodi.
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62 min: Liverpool double-substitution: Bobby Firmino and Xherdan Shaqiri on, Curtis Jones and Takumi Minmino off.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-2 Liverpool (Wijnaldum 60)
Liverpool retake the lead: Gini Wijnaldum sidefoots the ball into the bottom right-hand corner from the edge of the corner after being teed up by Mo Salah. ONodi gets a finger-tip to the ball but is unable to keep it out.
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58 min: Another Liverpool corner. Milner sends the ball into the mixer and Villa clear. Hats off to these Villa players for being able to keep their focus on what must be a seriously mentally and physically draining occasion. Many of them would normally be tucked up in bed at this time.
57 min: Villa threaten to attack on the counter after pouncing on a loose pass from Minamino in their penalty area. It breaks down before they can get out of their own half.
56 min: Another corner for Liverpool. Again, Villa clear their lines ... eventually.
54 min: Mo Salah connects with a cross from ther right and fires home from four yards out at the second attempt after Onodi had saved his first effort.
While he’s celebrating putting Liverpool ahead, his “goal” is ruled out. Whether it was for offside or because he kicked a ball Onodi was in control of remains unclear.
53 min: The camera cuts to Jurgen Klopp, who is sitting in the dugout looking deep in thought.
52 min: Fabinho heads James Milner’s outswinger straight at Akos Okodi’s chest. The goalkeeper grabs the ball gratefully.
50 min: Jake Walker boots the ball into Row Z after a loose touch from Curtis Jones. Moments later, Callum Rowe heads a cross from the left out for another corner.
49 min: Revan is on hand to concede another corner, this time blocking a drive from James Milner. Villa clear their lines from the ensuing set piece.
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48 min: Minamino spins and shoots from 12 yards out, only to see his shot blocked heroically by Dominic Revan. Liverpool win a corner.
46 min: Curtis Jones puts the ball out for a throw-in deep inside the Villa half.
Second half: Aston Villa 1-1 Liverpool
46 min: Villa kick off, their young players harbouring notions of causing the biggest upset in the competition’s long, long history. It’s a tall order but stranger things have ... actually no, I’m not sure stranger things have ever happened. Their players came out for the second half with wide grins plastered across their faces.
Liverpool’s players were late out, no doubt having got a roasting from their manager. Jurgen Klopp has brought on Thiago Alcantara in place of Jordan Henderson.
Every year people say the FA Cup is losing it’s magic and every year the old girl shows us she still has a sparkle. No matter what happens now this 17 year old has grabbed himself a very special #FACup moment. #bbcfootball pic.twitter.com/1GD538wtck
— Conor McNamara (@ConorMcNamaraIE) January 8, 2021
A fascinating 45 minutes: Sadio Mane opened the scoring for Liverpool after three minutes, almost before any of the Villa players – without a single minute of senior first team game time between them tonight – had got a kick of the ball and an absolute slaughter looked to be on the cards.
Villa’s response, however, was tremendous and they equalised through local lad Louie Barry, formerly of West Brom and Barcelona but now a senior goalscorer for Aston Villa at the ripe old age of 17.
Half-time: Aston Villa 1-1 Liverpool
Peep! Akos Onodi pulls off another impressive save, this time from Curtis Jones, and Craig Pawson signals it’s time for the break. In a quite astounding turn of events, a ragbag assortment of Aston Villa under-23s and under-18s have come from a goal down to restore parity with the League champions in this FA Cup third round tie.
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45+2 min: Villa survive a late onslaught from Liverpool, having to repeatedly clear balls into the box after their visitors win a corner.
45+1 min: James Milner plays the ball into the Villa penalty area, where Mungo Bridge ducks to head it clear.
44 min: Curtis Jones gets booked for a late tackle on Mungo Bridge as the Villa centre-half tried to canter past him.
42 min: That was absolutely astonishing, with Villa’s Callum Rowe taking advantage of Liverpool’s high line to put Barry in behind Williams with a perfectly weighted ball from deep. Once Barry had given Williams the slip, he made no mistake when it came to beating Kelleher in the Liverpool goal.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-1 Liverpool (Barry 41)
VILLA EQUALISE!!! Louie Barry runs on to a fantastic through ball from Rowe,out-sprints Rhy WIlliams and finds himself in a one-on-one with Caoimhin Kelleher. He fires past the Irishman and wheels away in celebration.
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38 min: Liverpool continue to pile the pressure on Villa, who are assembled in front of them in two bankls of four. They’ll be desperate to make it to half-time without conceding another goal and if they can do so, it will quite the achivement.
37 min: Gini Wijnaldum picks up a pass down the inside left from Takumi Minamino and sends the ball curling across the face of the Villa goal but there’s nobody on hand to sweep it home. Moments later, James Milner fires over the bar.
35 min: Not for the first time, Akos Onodi distinguishes himself in the Villa goal, getting down to his left to put a low Mo Salah rasper from distance out for a corner.
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33 min: Add Dominic Revan to that list, the Villa right-back taking the ball down under pressure on the edge of his own penalty area before dispatching it down the field.
31 min: Having been dompletely dominated in the opening 20 minutes, Villa’s youngsters are visibly growing in confidence on this landmark occasion in their lives. Goalkeeper Akos Onodi, Mo Sylla and Louie Barry, formerly of Barcelona, are among their early eye-catchers.
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30 min: Excellent defending from Mamadou Sylla, who dispossesses Jordan Henderson with a perfectly timed last-ditch tackle on the edge of the Villa penalty area.
29 min: James Milner crosses from the left, trying to pick out Mo Salah at the far post. The Egyptian fails to make clean contact with the ball and Akos Onodi clutches the ball to his chest.
27 min: Great stuff from Villa. Hayden crosses to the back post and Liverpool’s defenders were back--pedalling as Lamare Bogarde threatened to nod home at the far post. The ball goes out for a corner, with Caoimhin Kelleher claiming comfortably when the ball comes in.
25 min: Mungo Bridge puts the ball behind for another Liverpool corner, intercepting a cross from the right. Curtis Jones sends the ball into the Villa penalty area and Fabinho slips his marker only to head high over the bar.
22 min: Another corner for Liverpool after some good defensive work from Rowe. It’s half cleared, the ball breaks to Fabinho and his low drive towards the corner is saved superbly by Akos Onodi, who gets down low to his left.
The Villa goalkeeper, a Hungarian youth international, gets back to his feet quickly to get a touch on Sadio Mane’s follow-up, which somehow stays out.
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20 min: Gini Wijnaldum tries his luck from the edge of the Villa penalty area, his shot taking a deflection over the bar. Dominic Revan clears the ensuing delivery from Curtis Jones.
18 min: Jake Walker attempts to clip a pass towards the left touchline. On BT Sport, commentator Ian Darke reveals that Villa’s Kaine Keslar actually prefers to go by the name of Hayden, despite what it says on the Aston Villa club website. Hayden it is, then.
17 min: Meanwhile at Molineux, it’s Wolves 0-0 Crystal Palace in tonight’s other third round game.
13 min: Apologies for the delay in transmission, which can be attributed to wifi issues, which have hopefully been resolved. You’ve missed nothing more interesting than Gini Wijnaldum firing over the bar. Liverpool continue to completely dominate their opponents.
8 min: Milner is fit to continue and Liverpool pick up where they left off, completely bossing possession, stroking the ball around patiently as they look for an opening.
6 min: There’s a break in play as James Milner goes down after shipping an accidental elbow in the head from Kaine Keslar.
5 min: It’s certainly not the start Villa wanted but there wasn’t a huge amount they could do about. Mane peeled off the shoulder of his marker and leapt high to head past Akos Onodi in the Villa goal.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Liverpool (Mane 4)
Liverpool go ahead. Sadio Mane gets between two defenders to nod home a cross Neco Williams from six yards out after good work down the right from Liverpool.
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3 min: Liverpool are completely dominating possession in these early stages, much as you might expect.
2 min: Ben Chrisane concedes an early throw-in deep inside the Villa half, before his team-mate Teddy Rowe hoofs the ball into the stands from the ensuing restart.
Aston Villa v Liverpool is go ...
1 min: Dominic Revan captains Villa tonight and undergoes the last of the pre-match formalities with Jordan Henderson and referee Craig Pawson. Liverpool get the ball rolling.
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Not long now: The teams come out of the tunnel and Jake Humphrey from BT Sport reminds viewers just how young these boys are.
When James Milner made his debut for Leeds, he tells us, three of them weren’t born and the oldest was three years old. Crikey.
Villa’s shirt numbers: Central defender Mungo Bridge has the lowest with 37, while Lamare Bogarde is highest with 70, which is still lower than Liverpool’s highest: No76 worn by Neco Williams.
An email: “Never mind Lamare Bogarde’s uncle, “ writes Peter Oh. “James Milner is old enough - and perhaps versatile and hard-working enough - to be the entire Villa team’s dad. It’s men against boys out there!”
Liverpool’s line-up: Having complained at great length about fixture congestion this season, it is intriguing that Jurgen Klopp has elected to play so many first team stalwarts in a match he knew Aston Villa would have to contest with 11 inexperienced youngsters without a minute’s first team experience between them.
Its novelty and curiosity value aside, this contest is a farce and should not be taking place tonight. Klopp tells BT Sport this is the side he was planning on picking anyway, before he heard about Aston Villa’s plight.
“I think for the boys it’s nice that they can play,” he says of Villa’s side. “For the game tonight, that’s how it is. We couldn’t change it last year and they can’t change it this year. We want to go to the next round and prepare for the rest of the season. We just want to go out and play football and win the football game.”
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@bglendenning Lamare Bogarde is actually the nephew of former Chelsea player Winston, so you're not far wrong!
— Wil Benson (@wiljbenson) January 8, 2021
Jurgen Klopp watches: Liverpool’s manager is doing his usual trick of standing on the halfway line watching the opposition warm up. Way to intimidate the young lads, Jurgen!
Mark Delaney speaks ...
“It’s been a manic couple of days,” says Villa’s academy director in an interview BT Sport, who will be overseeing his club’s side tonight. “One I’ve not experienced at all really in the 20 years I’ve been at the club. The manager rang me up Thursday and said the test results had come in asnd it looked like I might have to take the game.
“There’s excited boys in there. They’re nervous but they’re looking forward to it. It\’sa an opportunity that we speak about a lot in the academy when you’re 17 or 18 years of age and this is the biggest opprtunity you can have.
“It’s a proud night for me as well tonight, because 10 years ago I was in coaching the under-9s. The lads have seen the Liverpool team sheet and they’re buzzing. We’re under no illusions it’s going to be a tough night but one we’re going to enjoy.
“We can match them with the attitude, the desire and the work rate and that’s all I ask of them. They’re all going to go out there with a smile on their faces and the enjoy the evening.”
That Aston Villa line-up: Aston Villa’s line-up is made up of the U23s who haven’t been training with the first team squad, with various members of their under-18s making up the number.
Akos Onodi, Mungo Bridge, Dominic Revan, Jake Walker, Callum Rowe, Louie Barry, and Kaine Keslar are in from the under-23s. Ben Chrisene, Mamadou Sylla, Arjan Raikhy and Lamare Bogarde step up from the under-18s. Good luck to them on this extraordinary night in their club’s history.
“Many of them are so young their parents will be dropping them off at Villa Park tonight to play in this game,” says Villa managing director Christian Purslow in an interview with BT Sport.
The average age of Villa’s squad tonight is 18, they have three players aged 16 in their matchday squad and their oldest player is 21.
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Aston Villa v Liverpool line-ups
Aston Villa: Onodi, Bridge, Revan, Walker, Rowe, Chrisene, Barry, Kesler, Sylla, Raikhy, Bogarde.
Subs: Zych, Jay-Hart, Sohna, Tait, Rowe, Young, Swinkels, Ealing, Lindley.
Liverpool: Kelleher, N Williams, R Williams, Fabinho, Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Jones, Mane, Minamino, Salah.
Subs: Alisson, Thiago, Firmino, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Origi, Shaqiri, Robertson, Phillips, Alexander-Arnold.
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That Aston Villa line-up: Unless the Bogarde they’ve picked is a former Dutch international and conscientious Chelsea objecter who goes by the name of Winston, I’m not familiar with a single player in that line-up. We’ll find out plenty more about them all in due course.
🟣 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 🟣
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) January 8, 2021
This is how we line up to face Liverpool tonight! 👊#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/nWAyL4sK0q
A mixture of youth and experience for Liverpool: Fabinho, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah all start for the visitors tonight. THey’ll be joined by comparative whippersnappers Caoimhin Kelleher, Neco Williams, Rhys Williams, Curtis Jones and Takumi Minamino.
Enjoy it, lads! 🙌#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/de40Tevows
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) January 8, 2021
Tonight’s match officials
Referee Craig Pawson
Assistant Referees Stuart Burt and Richard West
Fourth Official Anthony Taylor
VAR Paul Tierney (VAR will only be used in third round ties played at Premier League grounds)
The shoe is on the other foot ...
Tonight’s match marks a reversal of the occasion when these sides met in the League Cup in December 2019, when Liverpool’s obligations in the World Club Cup in Qatar meant they were forced to field a team with an average of 19 against Villa.
On that occasion, Villa triumphed 5-0 but might possibly have shown their whey-faced opponents rivals more mercy if they had seen tonight’s game coming down the pipe.
FA Cup third round: Aston Villa v Liverpool
Welcome to our coverage of one of the opening games in what, with apologies to Louis Theroux, promises to be a particularly weird FA Cup third round weekend.
With crowds locked out of stadiums and various teams being affected by Covid-19 outbreaks on an unprecedented level, the wisdom of even going ahead with this season’s FA Cup has been questioned, but for now the show goes on in the face of this unprecedented adversity.
Tonight’s match at Villa Park had been in serious doubt following an outbreak of the virus in the Villa camp and we wish all those affected by it well.
While both teams were always likely to field below strength sides following their festive exertions, Villa have been left with no option but to field a team of youngsters, none of whom are part of a senior squad whose Covid positive members are now isolating.
Villa manager Dean Smith and his coaching staff will also be absent from tonight’s proceedings, with Mark Delaney, the club’s under-23 coach, set to pick the team and provide guidance from the technical area.
Kick-off at Villa Park is at 7.45pm GMT, but stay tuned in the meantime for what promises to be fairly intriguing team news from both sides on a night when plenty of youngsters will get an unexpected chance to strut their stuff in front of the TV cameras.
