Liverpool made wholesale changes to their starting line-up vs Aston Villa in the League Cup on Tuesday night, and broke a club record in the process.
With a hectic schedule in December to navigate through, Jurgen Klopp and the first-team squad travelled to Qatar this week to feature in the FIFA Club World Cup.
SEE MORE: Video: Aston Villa overcome early scare to run riot vs Liverpool young guns
Unable to change the date of their League Cup tie with Villa, they were forced to name their youngsters in the starting XI to simply put a team out, and as seen in the club’s tweet below, they had it all to do to advance given the lack of experience in the side.
Although they did make a bright start, it didn’t last for the Reds as they eventually began to leak goals and fell 4-0 behind by the break as they were left to rue their earlier missed chances.
While they’ll no doubt gain a lot in terms of experience from the game regardless of the end result, it will be a disappointment for Liverpool to crash out of the competition as they will no doubt want to go for it all this season.
That said, all eyes will be on the Club World Cup this week to see if they can add another major trophy to the collection, but as seen in the tweet below, they did make club history in midweek as the XI put out against Aston Villa was the youngest ever from Liverpool with an average age of 19 years and 182 days.
Five debutants were named in the XI, and with all those factors considered, it was always going to be a hugely difficult night for all concerned.
? TEAM NEWS ?
Here's how we line-up against @AVFCOfficial ? #CarabaoCup | #AVLLIV
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 17, 2019
19y & 182d – With an average age of 19 years & 182 days, Liverpool have named their youngest ever starting line-up for a competitive game in all competitions. Opportunity. #CarabaoCup #AVLLIV pic.twitter.com/9oiMXLFyop
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 17, 2019