As Jurgen Klopp ran through the final meeting points with his players in the hours building up to Liverpool's first Champions League home game of the season, six miles east of Anfield the club's next generation of superstars were putting Ajax to the sword at their Kirkby academy base.
Three fine finishes from academy hotshot Oakley Cannonier, coupled with an emphatic late strike from 16-year-old substitute Lewis Koumas, sealed the fate of Ajax's under-19s side early in the afternoon as they were humbled with a 4-0 defeat in the first part of the clubs' double-header on Merseyside.
It was, understandably, the impressive hat-trick of Liverpool's 18-year attacking prodigy that stole the headlines. But this time there was a plethora of impressive performances to add to Cannonier's excellence, as Barry Lewtas' side earned their first clean sheet of this UEFA Youth League campaign on Tuesday afternoon.
