Liverpool’ has the opportunity to advance to the next stage of the Europa League.
Liverpool Under-21s were knocked out of the Lancashire Senior Cup at the hands of Burnley. The Young Reds lost 3-1 to the Clarets at the County FA’s Leyland headquarters.
Lewis Coumas scored for Barry Leutas’ side, but Burnley, inspired by a brace from France Under-21 international Han-Noah Massengo, cruised to a deserved victory.
But Liverpool have used their youth squad to hint that some of their young talent will feature in their Europa League Group E clash against LASK Linz at Anfield on Thursday night.
Under-21 players include Luke Chambers, Callum Scanlon and James McConnell. All three have made their debuts this season, with Chambers scoring in a 5-1 win over Toulouse last month. England Under-20s could again line up to rest starter Kostas Tsimikas as Andy Robertson continues his recovery from shoulder surgery.
Interestingly, Conor Bradley did not play against Burnley. The right-back was on loan at Bolton Wanderers last season and was there in pre-season before Jurgen Klopp broke his back.
Bradley is in full training and Klopp has admitted the Liverpool Under-21 international needs to secure game time for Northern Ireland. However, his invisibility to Leutas’ forces suggests that he may have a role to play against LASK.Kaide Gordon is also back from injury.
He missed the 2022/23 season with a groin problem and Liverpool were unable to get him back quickly enough. Gordon has made three appearances for the Under-21s this season and was also on the bench in the 2-1 defeat to Toulouse earlier this month.
Alisson Becker is expected to miss the 1-1 draw with Manchester City due to a neck injury, while Adrian will be named as the starting goalkeeper after being left out of Red’s squad for the Europa League group stage.
Caoimhin Kelleher. Oscar Kelly will play against Burnley with Vitezslav Jaros, Fabian Mrozek and Marcelo Pitaluga all included as options. Liverpool will qualify for the Europa League play-offs if they win or draw against LASK.
If Toulouse fail to beat Union SG and the Reds win, they will top Group E.
