On the main Academy pitch, it is an asset for the young Reds who have participated in this competition over the years…
In this competition, your home form is very important, because it is difficult to go away from home. We scored a good point at AC Milan, but then we were beaten at Leipzig. You have to rely on your original form, it’s your bread and butter.
On managing two different teams on consecutive nights, with the draw against Leverkusen followed the following evening by the Under-21s’ trip to Blackpool for the Bristol Street Motors Trophy, where the Reds claimed a penalty shootout victory on goal after a draw… We tried to manage the players in terms of participation in each match, a little more difficult for the coach, I
must tell you! But the players did really well and in those two days we had a fantastic win against Bayer Leverkusen and then as far as going to Blackpool and winning on penalties, I thought we had been excellent that evening as well. These two days were fantastic for us and credit also goes to the staff, because it is not as easy as it seems to turn the tide in such a short time. Thanks to everyone involved.
Facing Real in the Youth League…
It’s exciting. As soon as the draw was done and we understood this new format, knowing that we were going to face Real Madrid, it was really a good, high-level draw. I think Liverpool versus Real Madrid definitely grabs the headlines. There are no surprises with Real, they are good. I’m sure they will have watched our games and we played very well at times. So it will be two good teams that will hopefully produce a very good match.
What he thinks of the competition with two games remaining in the championship phase…
Obviously the new format was an unknown to all of us. With the old format, you could kind of figure out what you needed after game five. This format gave us the opportunity to play against six different teams, which is always a good thing.
I always think the away games in this competition are tough and have different challenges, but it’s a really good platform for the guys and a really good opportunity to show what they can do. We have two games left to try to score as many points as possible.
