‘It’s the week of the Academy’ Jurgen Klopp proudly declared after Liverpool beat Southampton 3-0 on Wednesday night to reach the quarter-finals of the Emirates FA Cup.

Lewis Koumas and Jayden Danns, both 18 years old, were on the scoresheet at Anfield in the fifth-round tie to set up a trip to Manchester United in the next stage of the competition.

Koumas marked his senior debut by scoring the opening goal in the 44th minute before substitute Danns made sure of progression with a pair of second-half finishes in front of the Kop.

“To win the game against a Southampton team who we would have had problems with anyway, but in our specific situation it was absolutely clear… we tried to give as much information, but not too much because of the characteristics of the team, of the line-up, to them,” said Klopp.

“We had to improve during the game. So, I would say the last line is a settled last line – the goalie, Caoimh [Kelleher], we know how good he is, but then Joey [Gomez] on No.6, two 19-year-olds on No.8, an 18-year-old on the left wing and then Cody [Gakpo] and Harvey [Elliott], who in other circumstances would never have played. Harvey played 120 minutes a few days ago! So, what these two boys did there is absolutely incredible.”