'We don't fear any team in the competition this season'
Barry Lewtas is hoping St Helens' Totally Wicked Stadium can prove to be a lucky omen once again for his U19s when they host Salzburg in the UEFA Youth League on Wednesday afternoon.
Last season playing at the venue, the young Reds won five games, netting 19 goals in the process.
Three of those victories came in the UEFA Youth League with Lewtas’ charges hitting five goals against both Paris Saint-Germain and Napoli.
After a 1-1 draw in Naples in their opening group game, Liverpool host Salzburg at 3pm BST.
The Austrian outfit, who also drew their opening fixture 1-1 with Genk, are previous winners of the competition, having won it in 2017 after beating Benfica.
Read on for Lewtas’ thoughts on another proud day for the youngsters representing LFC in Europe…
On another dramatic win for the U18s in the Premier League Cup at Swansea City on Saturday…
It is becoming a familiar thing for us scoring late goals but I thought the performance was really good. Obviously we were disappointed to go behind against the run of play and then go 2-0 down, but you’ve got to give the boys credit. We continued to play and continued to create chances and obviously the boys had that belief to score goals because we created so much, so to score right at the end and come from 2-0 down that was a really good morning for us.
On scoring four decisive last-gasp goals so far this season, including three winners, added to the eight they got last term…
I think it’s an accumulation of a number of things in terms of mentality. There might be some tactical elements to it as well but give the boys credit as well. Some of the goals we have scored have been down to real good technique in the closing moments. I think back to Jake Cain’s pass for Layton Stewart’s finish against Stoke City, two real high levels of quality, and Saturday was the same. Leighton Clarkson put two really good balls into the box and Fidel [O’Rourke] scored a great header to win it for us.
On Clarkson appearing on the first-team bench for the first time at MK Dons…
It serves as a motivation for the boys as well. It was a really whirlwind week for Leighton I would imagine, training at Melwood and then heading down to Swansea City with the U18s. It’s a real hectic schedule but it should serve as a motivation to the rest of the lads in terms of that there’s opportunity there for them.
On Wednesday’s return to St Helens in the UEFA Youth League…
We have got good memories from last year and we had five wins from five, including the FA Youth Cup. We had some really exciting games and scored lots of goals, so it was a good place for us and hopefully that can continue again this year. We were certainly expansive in our home games at St Helens last season and scored lots of goals. It’s credit to the boys and I thought we played a nice brand of football and obviously that is something we’ll try to achieve this year. With this competition you are always going to be up against good opposition but it’s important we try to stamp our authority and style on the game.
On the 1-1 draw with Napoli in the opening group game…
A point was the minimum we deserved. Credit to the lads because it’s a really difficult place to play but I thought we had really good control of the game, we passed the ball well, we attacked well and created chances. I would have been disappointed for the lads had we got nothing from it but on reflection we might look back on that being a good point. More importantly to get the group going, it was a good performance and that’s something we can hopefully build upon on Wednesday.
Watch: Napoli 1-1 U19s highlights
On 17-year-old Layton Stewart coming off the bench to get the vital equaliser in Naples…
In fairness to Layton, I thought his all-round performance when coming on was mature. He got hold of the ball on a difficult surface and secured possession well for us to build attacks. I was really pleased with him and it was capped off with a good finish as well.
On the challenge of Salzburg, a former winner of the UEFA Youth League…
They have had experience as a club of winning this competition, so they are a big club in their own right. We have watched them, they have got some good players and we’ll certainly know what challenge we are up for. As we say to the boys, we have got good players ourselves, we have got a good team and we won’t be fearing any opposition we will play in this competition, but we’ll certainly be respectful of what strengths they have.
If you want to go to St Helens to cheer on the young Reds, tickets are on sale now priced £3 for adults and £1 for juniors and concessions. Click here to get yours now and you can also pay on the gate.