With Liverpool’s first team being away in Qatar at the Club World Cup, the youngest ever Reds line-up took to the field at Villa Park boasting an average age of just 19 years and 182 days.
Villa also made changes for the showdown, with midfielder Henri Lansbury being the only player who started Saturday’s Premier League defeat at Sheffield United to retain his place.
Liverpool’s youngsters made a bright start to the contest with Harvey Elliott and Herbie Kane both forcing Villa goalkeeper Orjan Nyland into early saves.
However, the visitors were made to pay for missing those chances, as two quickfire goals put Villa in control of the tie.
First of all, on 14 minutes Conor Hourihane’s curling free kick from the corner of the box evaded everyone and squirmed under the body of Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher and into the net.
Just three minutes later and it was 2-0 when Ahmed Elmohamady’s cross took a wicked deflection of Morgan Boyes, who unfortunately had to mark his Liverpool debut with an own goal.
Jonathan Kodjia took centre stage after that, with the Villa forward netting twice before the break.
The Ivorian’s first came when he latched onto a pass from Jota and poked the ball beyond the advancing Kelleher, while his second was a close-range finish from another Elmohamady cross.
The second-half lacked the intensity of the first, with Villa already knowing they had done enough to book their place in the semi-finals, but credit to Liverpool as they kept going and they forced Nyland into a number of saves, most notably from Kane and Tony Gallacher.
Elliott was the man pulling the strings for Liverpool, but they could not find the consolation goal their play deserved, with Villa instead adding some extra gloss to the scoreline in stoppage time, as substitute Wesley made it 5-0.
Aston Villa 5-0 Liverpool
With Liverpool’s first team being away in Qatar at the Club World Cup, the youngest ever Reds line-up took to the field at Villa Park boasting an average age of just 19 years and 182 days.
Villa also made changes for the showdown, with midfielder Henri Lansbury being the only player who started Saturday’s Premier League defeat at Sheffield United to retain his place.
Liverpool’s youngsters made a bright start to the contest with Harvey Elliott and Herbie Kane both forcing Villa goalkeeper Orjan Nyland into early saves.
However, the visitors were made to pay for missing those chances, as two quickfire goals put Villa in control of the tie.
First of all, on 14 minutes Conor Hourihane’s curling free kick from the corner of the box evaded everyone and squirmed under the body of Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher and into the net.
Just three minutes later and it was 2-0 when Ahmed Elmohamady’s cross took a wicked deflection of Morgan Boyes, who unfortunately had to mark his Liverpool debut with an own goal.
Jonathan Kodjia took centre stage after that, with the Villa forward netting twice before the break.
The Ivorian’s first came when he latched onto a pass from Jota and poked the ball beyond the advancing Kelleher, while his second was a close-range finish from another Elmohamady cross.
The second-half lacked the intensity of the first, with Villa already knowing they had done enough to book their place in the semi-finals, but credit to Liverpool as they kept going and they forced Nyland into a number of saves, most notably from Kane and Tony Gallacher.
Elliott was the man pulling the strings for Liverpool, but they could not find the consolation goal their play deserved, with Villa instead adding some extra gloss to the scoreline in stoppage time, as substitute Wesley made it 5-0.