Liverpool continued their perfect start to their latest UEFA Youth League campaign with young forward Oakley Cannonier catching eye with a lethal hat-trick against Ajax.
The Reds were taking on the Eredivisie giants in their second group game of the competition having beaten Napoli last time out. In the end, they continued their perfect start with a dominant 4-0 victory against Ajax and now sit top of the group and look a good bet to progress to the next round.
One man was key to what was a thrilling victory and that was young forward Cannonier, who found himself on the scoresheet on three occasions.
He enjoyed an electric start to the game with the opener after just eight minutes and doubled his afternoon’s work almost the same time after the break as he profited from some slack defending from the visitors at Liverpool’s Kirkby training ground.
The 18-year-old then secured the matchball with another reactionary finish to make it four goals from just two appearances in the Youth League, before Lewis Koumas added a late goal to round off the scoring. Cannonier will have impressed any spectators, with Reds legend Kenny Dalglish and Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek among the crowd watching the game.
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Intriguingly it is not the first time that Cannonier has played a key role for Liverpool in Europe. The young forward, just 14 at the time, was actually a ballboy at Anfield for the Reds’ famous Champions League comeback over Barcelona in May 2019. He threw the ball back to Trent Alexander-Arnold, who then took that quick corner kick to allow Divock Origi to slam the ball home.
It goes without saying that Cannonier will be aiming to emulate his Reds’ heroes sooner rather than later as he attempts to make his first-team debut for Liverpool. He was handed his first professional contract just last summer and went on to score 28 goals in just 26 league appearances for the U18 side last season, before making the step up to the under 23s.
Despite having enjoyed an extremely productive evening against Ajax, there was still some frustration for the youngster. He was booked in the first-half for simulation before his afternoon outing was brought to a premature end after he was substituted off with what looked like an injury.
Liverpool were certainly hoping to secure a similar result against Ajax with the two sides facing off at Anfield in their second Champions League group game of the campaign. The Reds of course endured an awful start to their latest European venture with a 4-1 humbling at the hands of Serie A side Napoli in Italy.
