Liverpool required a late own goal to rescue a point against Wolfsburg at Anfield last night in their third group stage game of the NextGen Series.
The U19 Reds fell behind during first-half stoppage time when Hendrik Hansen converted a free-kick from the right. However, an own goal from Marvin Kleihs following a neat piece of skill from Hungarian Krisztian Adorjan, gave Rodolfo Borrell’s side a draw four minutes from time.
The goal may have been fortunate but it was no less than Rodolfo Borrell`s committed team deserved and the 1-1 result means Liverpool now have four points from three games following a 3-0 home loss to Sporting Lisbon and a 4-0 away victory against Molde.
Despite the late reprieve, Borrell was far from satisfied with the overall display.
“We are grateful to get a draw but overall I was disappointed with our performance,” Borrell told Liverpoolfc.tv.
“We were below par. I thought we were sloppy, especially in the first half. We improved in the second half but we need to work hard every day to keep on improving.
“The only positive for me from the night was we didn’t lose the game and we need to be much better when we travel to Wolfsburg next week.”
For those of you unfamiliar with the NextGen Series, the competition sees the cream of Europe’s clubs pitted against one another at youth level for the first time, in a Champions League style format.
There are four groups each consisting of four teams with Liverpool in Group 2. The table currently sees Liverpool in second place but they will certainly need to up their game if they want to qualify for the next stage.
Current Standings
Liverpool line-up vs Wolfsburg: Belford, McLaughlin, Smith, Sama, Wisdom, Coady, Sterling, Roddan, Ngoo (Morgan 68), Suso (Adorjan 46), Silva.
Unused subs: McGiveron, Stephens, Mukendi, Rafferty.