Reds' U19s flourish in Sofia to keep course

Two finishes by Sheyi Ojo and one from Jerome Sinclair were the highlights of a display that could and should have generated more strikes for the away side, who now have nine points from their five fixtures to date.

FC Basel's win over Real Madrid in the section's other match of the day means the young Reds must now overcome the Swiss outfit next month - potentially by two or more clear goals - to book progress.

Harry Wilson, who struck the winner when the U19s defeated Real earlier in the competition, was the main protagonist in the opening exchanges today but each of the Welshman's efforts at goal travelled off target.

Nevertheless, Neil Critchley's team - aware of the need to make up ground to Real and Basel in a closely-fought Group B - were the dominant force of the encounter and earned their reward after 27 minutes at the Georgi Asparuhov Stadion.

It came as little surprise that Ojo was the goalscorer, given the 17-year-old's prolific recent form, including two for the U21s last week. He capitalised on a cross into the area to coolly redirect a header into the back of the net from close range for 1-0.

Next the captain, Jordan Rossiter, was thwarted twice in quick succession by Ludogorets goalkeeper Emil Gospodinov, before the midfielder linked smartly to set up Ojo but the latter knocked his strike over the crossbar.

The interval did little to quell Liverpool's control of proceedings and the advantage was soon doubled, two minutes before the hour mark. A corner into the home side's box fell for Sinclair to glance in and claim his fifth goal of a fruitful campaign in the UEFA Youth League.

Pedro Chirivella threatened another when he received possession from a short corner routine but ultimately fired wide, and Sinclair was unfortunate not to further increase his tally when he latched onto a delivery by Corey Whelan but clipped it too high.

The striker went even closer with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining. Surging through to goal, a personal second and collective third seemed likely until his hit bounced away and out off the foot of the post.

Sergi Canos won a golden opportunity to join the scorers as he was fouled inside the area by Ventsislav Kerchev, but the Spaniard's subsequent spot-kick was stopped by Gospodinov.

The attacking midfielder made amends shortly after, however, providing the assist with a near-post cross for Ojo to pounce with his second of the contest and seal a result that ensures qualification for the next phase will be decided on the final matchday.

U19s team: Fulton, Whelan, Hart, Cleary, Maguire, Rossiter, Chirivella (O'Hanlon), Canos, Ojo, Wilson (Kent), Sinclair (Marsh). Unused substitutes: Firth, Polgar.