Jurgen Klopp urged his young Liverpool players to ‘be brave’ in a message sent from Qatar during the 5-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Aston Villa on Tuesday night.
The Reds were forced to field their youngest ever side for the quarter-final with the first-team travelling to the Middle East for the Club World Cup campaign, which starts on Wednesday.
And despite a positive start at Villa Park, it proved a baptism of fire for the kids, who were 4-0 down by half-time.
Klopp, watching on from more than 3,000 miles away, delivered a message of support to his youngsters at the interval.
Under-23s boss Neil Critchley, who was in charge for the night, said: “We had some information at half-time from the manager, basically he told us to keep playing the way we were playing, to keep being brave.
“He was watching (in Qatar) with the staff and the players, and I’m sure he will be proud of the way we played tonight.”
Opposing manager Dean Smith and his assistant John Terry visited the Liverpool starlets in the dressing room after the match to pass on some words of praise and encouragement.
Critchley added: “That was a special moment.
“The conduct of the Villa players toward our players all night was first class, and for Dean Smith and John Terry to come into our dressing room and say such complimentary words to our players was a special moment for that group.
“That is something that will live with us for a long time. That was top, top class I thought.”
And despite the heavy nature of the defeat, Villa boss Smith predicts big things to come for the Liverpool youngsters.
Smith said: “I told them they’re a really talented group of players, and they made life very difficult for us.
“I’m sure there are a number of players we’ve seen out there who will be playing in the Premier League in three or four years’ time.
“And losing 5-0, sometimes that’s all you remember, rather than the performance, so I felt it was important to say a few encouraging words.”
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