Jarell Quansah scored his first Liverpool goal in his 12th appearance for the club

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Europa: Liverpool young lads lose to Union Saint-Gilloise.

By Our Reporter On Dec 14, 2023 0

Already-qualified Liverpool ended their Europa League group campaign with an away defeat in Belgium against Union Saint-Gilloise.

Jurgen Klopp’s youthful Reds side fell behind in the 32nd minute when Mohamed Amoura scored after taking the ball around goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.

Twenty-year-old centre-half Jarell Quansah equalised with a powerful effort from inside the penalty area for his first Liverpool goal.

But the hosts regained the lead just before half-time thanks to Cameron Puertas’ low strike, which proved to be the winner.

Puertas thought he had scored again with another well-struck shot but the goal was disallowed for handball following a video assistant referee check.

Despite the loss, Liverpool win Group E with 12 points from their six games, while Belgian league leaders Union Saint-Gilloise finished third to drop down into the Europa Conference League play-offs, in February.

Premier League leaders Liverpool will not play another European fixture until the last 16 in March and can focus on other competitions.

They now have three vital home games Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday, West Ham in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday and then Arsenal in the league on 23 December.

Liverpool’s 4-0 win over LASK in November guaranteed top spot with a game to spare in the group.

That meant Klopp was able to rest forward Mohamed Salah, defenders Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold and goalkeeper Alisson with Liverpool playing 10 times between 30 November and 1 January.

Three teenagers started 18-year-old Scottish winger Ben Doak, 19-year-old left-back Luke Chambers and 19-year-old midfielder Kaide Gordon while the side also featured three 20-year-olds, Quansah, right-back Conor Bradley and established midfielder Harvey Elliott.

Eighteen-year-old defender Calum Scanlon and midfielder James McConnell, 19, also made substitute appearances on a valuable learning night for Klopp’s squad.

The hosts were the better team throughout though and Noah Sadiki, Amoura and Gustaf Nilsson had missed chances before Amoura capitalised on Reds’ captain Curtis Jones losing possession in midfield, racing clear and bundling his way past Kelleher.