Pedro: Why I will never forget summer tour
For Pedro Chirivella the summer of 2015 will remain forever firmly etched in his memory.
Just a few short weeks after turning 18 on May 23, the Spanish midfielder was rewarded with a place in Brendan Rodgers' squad for the tour of Bangkok, Brisbane, Adelaide and Kuala Lumpur.
And it was in Malaysia that the former Valencia youngster made his senior Reds bow when he appeared as a late substitute in the 1-1 draw with a Malaysia XI.
Reflecting on his tour experience, Chirivella told Liverpoolfc.com: “It’s something I will never forget. I went with the first team and made my first-team debut with all of the players. It was really nice and I won’t forget it.”
The Spanish youth international actually only found out the day before the team were due to travel that he would be with the party - U21s boss Michael Beale delivered the special news.
He explained: “I’d trained with the first team for a couple of days in the first week back and then the day before we were due to fly, Mick [Beale] told me I was going. He was really happy for me and my family.”
After further outings for the first team against HJK Helsinki and Swindon, Chirivella started the new season in the centre of midfield for the U21s - but an injury-time winner saw Chelsea take all three points in the opening game of the campaign at Langtree Park on Sunday.
Beale’s charges created a whole host of glorious opportunities but were unable to find that elusive goal to claim a point.
“I thought we played very well, and the team was strong,” said Chirivella.
“Chelsea had a very good team as well, they are one of the best youth teams in the country, but I thought we were really unlucky and didn’t deserve to lose the game.
“We created a lot of good chances and their goalkeeper was their best player, so that shows how good our our team performance was.”
Chirivella and the U21s squad depart for Denmark today as they face a friendly encounter with the Denmark U20 team on Thursday evening, before returning to UK soil to prepare for a mini-derby with Everton on Wednesday August 19 at Southport’s Merseyrail Community Stadium.
He added: “Playing Everton is always really nice for us, it’s the most important game of the season because of the rivalry and it’s a derby and hopefully we get the victory.”