John Terry and Dean Smith showed their class by visiting the Liverpool dressing room to commiserate the Reds youngsters after their crushing 5-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
The Merseyside club were forced to play a side with an average age of 19 years and 182days - the youngest in their history - with Jurgen Klopp taking the first-team to Qatar for the FIFA Club World Cup.
After an equal opening quarter of an hour Conor Hourihane and a Morgan Boyes own goal suckered the academy starlets before Jonathan Kodjia added two more before half time.
Wesley rounded off the thrashing in stoppage time with a cool finish to send Villa to the Carabao Cup semi-final.
Neil Critchley took Klopp's place in the dug out, and revealed that Villa's manager and assistance Smith and Terry popped into the dressing room after the match.
"The conduct of the Villa players was first class," under 23 boss Critchley said.
"For Dean Smith and John Terry to come in to our dressing room after the game and say the things they said.
"They said 'keep going, good luck' and wished us the best. The moment I will remember and the players will remember for the rest of their lives."
Critchley went on to explain his pride at how his young side made life difficult for the Premier League opposition.
"I thought we were magnificent," he added. We were fantastic from the start, we had a couple of chances from the first whistle.
"We were really unfortunate to concede and find ourselves 2-0 down. It was an incredible night and no one wanted it to end. The support we had was unbelievable.
"Some of them showed the potential to one day play for us, or in the Premier League. They will know it was just part of their journey. My overwhelming feeling was one of immense pride."
