Introducing the Celtic tempo-setter

The best players and biggest stories from UEFA Youth League: Matchday 6

That’s that: the inaugural UEFA Youth League League Stage is complete. They really should’ve just kept calling it Group Stage because UEFA Youth League League Stage is one hell of a mouthful.

For those that don’t know or haven’t been paying attention, the kids only play the six League Stage games while the men trudge on through the footballing trenches for another two matchdays after Christmas.

Anyway, here’s how the final league stage table looks, courtesy of Sofascore.

Inter were the only team to win six out of six, an impressive feat. A further four teams went unbeaten, not least LOSC Lille who only advance to the knockout stages by a point having won one and drawn five. Sporting CP have the minerals to be real contenders, we think, Red Bull Salzburg are entertaining, and Girona have made a pretty impressive European debut.

In terms of shock ommissions from the knockout stages, you’re looking at Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan. The Parisians are competitive while the Italians were finalists in last year’s edition, but both are out early here. Some may point to Arsenal, but they’ve underwhelmed at this level for a while.

Don’t forget, while the League Stagers have been battling hammer and tongs, the Domestic Champions have been playing against each other too. There are still a couple of ties to be played before the third round is complete — so we won’t say too much, other than Manchester United are out — but both paths will converge to face each other in February.

Don’t forget again that the last two UEFA Youth League winners, AZ Alkmaar and Olympiacos, have come from the Domestic Champions side. It’s a format that throws up exciting and unpredictable match-ups.

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In this UEFA Youth League round-up…

• Girona take on Liverpool in the Pyrenees

• A Celtic midfielder that continues to stand out

• Eye-catching talents from the perfect Inter team

• Barcelona and their brilliantly buzzy attackers

• Real Madrid, Atalanta, City, Juventus, and more…

We’re full of Christmas spirit, so we’ve kept our opening match report in for all subscribers just to show what you’re missing out on. Get on the full subscription to get unrestricted access to our UEFA Youth League analysis.

🇪🇸 Girona 2-2 Liverpool 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Report by Llew Davies

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The final matchday of this season’s UEFA Youth League league stage kicked off in Olot, a small city nestled in the crisply cold Catalan foothills of the Pyrenees. That’s where newcomers Girona have been playing their games, and they welcomed Liverpool on Tuesday afternoon.

Girona were already assured of their place in the knockout rounds, an impressive feat in their debut season, but Liverpool needed something to squeeze in. Get something they did, but they made it hard work for themselves.

I muscled Jake off coverage of this one for two reasons: one, I wanted to catch up on some of the FIFA U-17 World Cupers that Girona have in their ranks; and two, the extremely exciting Rio Ngumoha.

Again, he was probably the standout on the pitch in terms of pure talent and potential. Girona knew that because they were chucking at least two defenders (sometimes three) out to contain him. The one time they left Ngumoha one-v-one in the first half? He squared up the defender, feinted right, pushed left, and drew a reckless tackle that won a penalty.

Jayden Danns converted the penalty to give Liverpool a lead after 32 minutes. He played first-team football under Jürgen Klopp, made famous for a flash by the League Cup final, and is only just returning from an extended absence through injury, hence his involvement in this game. He’s difficult to miss given his size – tall and burly, built like a classic centre-forward, he’ll tower over his dad at the Christmas table – especially when he starts dropping down the lines to get involved, as he did a lot in this game. You can see the upsides.

The game was flipped on its head some five minutes later when Ranel Young lunged into a tackle borne of frustration that planted studs on an opponent’s shin and earned him a rare straight red card.

Enthusiasm surged back into Girona with that unexpected break and they capitalised on their man advantage almost immediately after half time with a penalty of their own. This time, it was Juan Arango moving smartly off Amaro Nallo’s back shoulder to latch onto a ball over the top, take it round the goalkeeper, embellish the contact a little and go down. 1-1.

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This Juan Arango is the son of that Juan Arango. Bundesliga followers of a certain vintage will remember Arango Sr. as a left-footed wizard that would score all sorts of bangers for Lucien Favre’s Boussia Mönchengladbach alongside the likes of Marco Reus and Marc-André ter Stegen.

Anyway, I first saw him at last year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup and was pretty impressed, hence why I wanted to watch him again. He was a left winger in Indonesia but a centre-forward in Olot, the reference point for much of Girona’s work. He has the physique to be a centre-forward: pretty tall, lean and stringy, there’s a dynamism to his athleticism that includes a change of speed on the move, agility in tighter areas and robustness in contact. He used the latter well to pin and roll Wellity Lucky a few times, giving his side a direct route over Liverpool’s press. His movement off the shoulder was nice throughout too.

I came away with the same downsides as I did at the World Cup — ‘hasty in next actions, turns ball over too much’ — but Arango is an interesting prospect. Girona know it because they’ve already had him up with the first team on a few occasions.

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Arango tangent out of the way… tails up, Girona almost took the lead a moment later then did some 10 minutes later with a stonker of a goal from Arnau Coromina. The deep-lying midfielder stepped onto play and struck a dipping shot into the top-right corner from some 30 yards. It seemed to settle him because he was pinging some really nice passes about after that, whereas he was a bit jittery in his play before it.

Needing a goal to stay in the competition, Liverpool got one in the 83rd minute through Trent Kone Doherty. He’s been wasteful when I’ve watched him in previous games, and he was largely ineffective in this one, and quite honestly I’m not sure what to think of him, but he did well for this goal. Latching onto a ball over the top, he sent captain Marc Aznar flying with a shoulder check, settled himself, then planted a finish into the net. He took it with an assertiveness he hadn’t shown previous.

And that was pretty much that, an enjoyable game ending with a result that suited everyone. Girona maintained their impressive unbeaten record, Liverpool eeked their way into the next round, and both can look forward to knockout games when February rolls around.

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