Critchley: Remember Olympiacos
Neil Critchley has told his Liverpool U19 squad to use the seniors' famous night against Olympiacos as a source of inspiration for Tuesday's crunch UEFA Youth League clash with FC Basel.
The young Reds must win by two clear goals to qualify for the last 16 of the competition at Langtree Park in St Helens - in a match you can watch live on LFCTV HD, with our coverage starting at 1.30pm GMT.
This scenario will be a new experience for Critchley's charges and the manager has told them to remember the first team's 2004 Olympiacos turnaround, 10 years on, as a marker of what can be achieved against the odds.
"It's very similar to what the first team faced against Olympiacos so we should look at that game and use it as an inspiration," Critchley told Liverpoolfc.com.
"We know we have to win the game. There's different permutations and all kinds of different scorelines that can happen but we need to win by two clear goals, which means it should be an interesting game.
"It will also be interesting to see how Basel set up and how they approach the game because they don't need to win, but we have to score goals and attack."
While going for goals will be the name of the game, Critchley has equally explained the necessity for patience - not leaving gaps at the back and being too eager to attack.
He added: "We don't have to be gung-ho and go for it straight away and win the game in the first 15 or 20 minutes, but it's all set up for an exciting game and we can't wait for it.
"Even senior players don't often experience a game where you have to win by two clear goals so the psychological aspect of the game will be massive.
"The momentum swings because of the scoreline and that will generate pressure, so how we handle that during the game will be really crucial.
"Even if Basel were to score it doesn't change the fact of what we need to do, but we have to do it in a controlled manner. The defending will be just as important as our attacking and we have to make sure we keep the back door closed.
"We know we can score goals. We scored two against Basel away from home and were winning 2-1 with five minutes to go. We scored three against Real Madrid and could have scored more.
"They know we can score goals but we know they have got goals at their disposal with some good attacking players, so we have to be mindful of that. But with the players we have on the pitch we are always likely to create and score goals."
He added: "It's a fantastic competition and we are privileged to be involved in it because the first team qualified for the Champions League.
"We want this to continue and we want to expose our players in this type of competition, in these type of games where the result really matters.
"We are playing under pressure and you get to learn so much about the players in terms of their temperament, so we want to win on Tuesday and want to progress as far as we can in this competition.
"It would give all the players a chance to experience knockout competition and as an Academy it can only help when the younger players see how well the U19 team are doing. Hopefully Tuesday will be a good day for the whole club."