By Daily Sports on December 18, 2019

Aston Villa made short work of an overmatched Liverpool side with a 5-0 win in their Carabao Cup quarterfinal encounter on Tuesday night.

With the senior team on Club World Cup duty in Qatar, Under-23 coach Neil Critchley took charge of the side with Liverpool fielding their youngest team ever with an average age of just under 19-and-a-half.

The young Reds looked dangerous in the opening 10 minutes, but it was the hosts that struck first when Conor Hourihane's free kick from the right edge of the penalty area beat Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher.

And Villa would double the lead against their inexperienced opponents soon after as Ahmed Elmohamady's shot took a wicked deflection off Morgan Boyes and floated over Kelleher's head into the Liverpool goal.

Jonathan Kodjia scored two more before the break off the back of Liverpool defensive miscues, beating Kelleher with a clever little flick before redirecting an El Mohamady cross into goal to make it 4-0 at the half.

The young visitors dug in for the second half and managed a few chances, while only conceding late in the second half to Villa, who are now through to the semifinals.

Despite their inexperience Liverpool’s youngsters acquitted themselves well and matched a Villa side, showing 10 changes from their weekend Premier League defeat by Sheffield United, for much of a game that did not reflect well on the League Cup.

Liverpool’s senior team faces Monterrey in the semifinal of the Club World Cup on Wednesday with the winner taking on Copa Libertadores winner Flamengo in Saturday’s final. (ESPN)

•PHOTO: Aston Villa players 

Source Daily Sports

Posted December 18, 2019

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