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Kickoff: 3:00PM GMT/10:00AM EST
Ways to Watch: LFCTV for subscribers
Other News: Pelosi Suffers Broken Leg Ahead of NextGen Match
Comment: Join the conversation on the Liverpool Offside
Sporting 4: Mane 12' 24', Palinha 70', Janco 90'
Liverpool 0
Disappointing day in Lisbon for Liverpool's youngsters, who crashed out of the NextGen Series to a Sporting side that looked better in all phases of play. Early defensive lapses handed Sporting a number of chances, but it was an audacious effort by Carlos Mane that opened the scoring, with the forward heading his own flick over Liverpool goalkeeper Ryan Fulton into an empty net.
His second was much easier, left alone for a free header from a corner, and their third came in similar fashion, as a corner was headed at goal and chested down by an umarked Joao Palinha, who poked past Fulton. They rounded off the scoring through Wilson Janco in the 90th minute, leaving Liverpool with their second four-goal loss in Portugal in the past two years and out of the NextGen Series.
It's not doom and gloom, though, and with a number of names missing on the night--Marc Pelosi, Conor Coady, Joao Carlos Teixeira, Brad Smith, Samed Yesil, Jordan Rossiter, and Jakub Sokolik were all missing--the performance wasn't necessarily a true refleciton of their capabilities. And while it'd be nice for the kids to have a chance to continue to play some meaningful matches on the continent for the rest of the season, but they'll have a full slate in the U21 Premier League and plenty more chances to impress.