Barry Leutas at Benfica draw, perfect weekend for McConnell and Gordon’s return
Barry Roitas praised his side’s character after Liverpool U21s drew 1-1 with Benfica in the Premier League International Cup on Sunday.Despite Filipe Cruz’s stunning opener, the young Reds never gave up and deservedly equalized when James McConnell headed home Mateusz Musialowski’s corner.
It was a busy weekend for McConnell, who was on the bench alongside Calum Scanlon in Saturday’s Merseyside derby at Anfield. Both players made significant contributions at academy level the following day.
Jarell Quanza and Luke Chambers played in the first half against Portugal, while Kaide Gordon returned from the bench.
What U21 coach Leutas has say about Sunday’s draw and the positives of the game.
As for his thoughts on the big picture…Listen, I played against Benfica’s second team. They played a big opponent in the second division. It was a mixed team for us, but I thought we did well. We had to build new relationships on the pitch, but overall we felt like we couldn’t compete anymore. Some parts of our game were very good. I could have done a bit more with the last third, but overall I’m very happy.
They are scheduled to play Leeds United in the second leg of the Premier League next weekend, so expectations are high as they get back into the swing of things.
Regarding the Cuanza and Chambers minutes…Jarell and Chambo were very good for 45 minutes, it was a very fast game so the kids that came in had to adjust. I thought everyone contributed very well. Jarel was great in the first half. Have a great weekend McConnell…exorbitant! When James came on for us in the Merseyside derby after coming off the bench at Anfield, I thought he did well and achieved his goal. He has shown a lot of versatility in his matches this year, playing as a number six and scoring goals. It just shows what it can do.In the second half, Gordon returned from the bench…This is a big problem for us and Kaide.
In fact, he wanted to come back because he had some problems, including an ankle injury and a football injury. I wanted to play 90 minutes, but I had to be careful. I think he looked strong, he was aggressive and the more playing time we gave him, the better he felt.16-year-old Amara Nalo’s convincing performance as centre-back…Amar was great.
He and Carter Pinnington have played consistently for us so far. Look, he’s only 16 and I don’t think we’ve ever asked a kid that young to play center back against big players. He is really proud of his success.
I think Amara’s biggest strength is that she plays very well but doesn’t change the momentum and mistakes of the game. So he certainly didn’t play like a 16-year-old.
