Liverpool defeated Shrewsbury Town 1-0 last night in the FA Cup to qualify for the 5th Round for the first time since Jurgen Klopp arrived.
Neil Critchley managed a team of teenagers, with Pedro Chirivella the elder statesman at 22-years-old and Harvey Elliott the youngest at 16.
Liverpool’s first-team squad were all away on a break, as the Premier League instructed them to be last year – which Jurgen Klopp took seriously enough to withhold them all from playing on Tuesday evening.
All except for James Milner, that is. TV cameras showed the vice-captain sat near the management team just behind the dugout – and he was involved in the dressing room both before and during.
James Pearce tweeted Critchely’s quotes following the game:
Milner was entitled to be on holiday, but instead, he helped the kids before the biggest game of their lives.
That says so, so much about him as a person and a professional – and it’s no wonder he recently extended his contract to stay at the club until 2022.
We’re truly very, very lucky to have him.