Pep Lijnders has paid tribute to Caoimhin Kelleher as the Liverpool goalkeeper gets set for the biggest game of his career in the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea.
And the Reds assistant also reserved plenty of praise for Adrian for his performance in the fourth-round win at Preston, saying: "He saved our a****!"
Manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed on a handful of occasions that Kelleher will start Sunday's showpiece at Wembley ahead of usual first-choice Alisson Becker and Lijnders explained just how far the Irishman has come since he joined from Ringmahon Rovers in the summer of 2015.
Speaking earlier this year, Klopp said that did not always envision the Cork-born keeper making the strides he has in recent months, saying: "When I came here there were not all the people in the club who thought, ‘oh yes he will be the next goalkeeper.’"
Lijnders, though, said the keeper's skills were evident at an early age, having coached him during his time in the club's Academy ranks.
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"I am not sure who Jurgen is referring to, but I was the coach of the Under-16s when we signed him so he came into my team and we saw from the start that all the things he is showing now, he had at that time," Lijnders said.
"It is just about giving a healthy pathway to the first team. It is about faith and it is about patience and hopefully you see that is what we're trying to do with all of our talents.
"And then at the right moments, the right games, they can make the right steps."
Lijnders added of Adrian: "But if I speak about Caoimhin, I have to speak about Adrian as well.
"Because he played against Preston and I don't know if you remember, but he saved our a***** two times at 0-0 with two incredible saves!
"What I like as well is that Ali played the semi-final so that is a big compliment to John Achterberg and his goalkeeping team because we used all three keepers.
"Against Leicester [in the penalty shootout] Patson Daka, Kelleher saves, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, he saves. He saved two penalties.
"At Norwich, he saved a penalty to bring us through, at Arsenal, Martinelli is clean through, he saves it. So he earned the right to play this final.
"Our talents, they have never let us down and I like that Caoimhin is making the next step and I really like that we don't only have Ali, we have Caoimh and we have Adrian.
"The moment Adrian is called up, he made the difference and that is why we're in the final."
