Footballers don’t usually smile after losing a game 4-1, but all is forgiven in the case of teenager Louie Barry.
The 17-year-old was part of a youthful Aston Villa team — with an average age of 18 years — that was beaten by Liverpool in the English FA Cup third round on Friday. The FA Cup, which was founded in 1871, is the oldest domestic association cup competition. Against a strong Liverpool team that included the likes Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, Villa was forced to field a team of youngsters after the club suffered a Covid-19 outbreak earlier the week. The 11 players that started the game for Villa were all making their first-team debuts. “Our experience of this situation in the past two days has been a frightening scenario because we went from 100% negative on 1 January to 14 cases,” Villa chief executive officer Christian Purslow told BT Sport. “Many of the players tonight are so young their mums and dads will be dropping them off at Villa Park.” Liverpool took an early lead through Mane’s header but a wonderful solo goal by Barry ensured Villa were level at halftime. Midfielder Thiago Alcantara came on for Liverpool at the start of the second half and his introduction swung the game in the visitors’ favor, with goals from Georginio Wijnaldum and Salah as well as another Mane header ensuring victory for Jurgen Klopp’s team.
