Liverpool U15s are celebrating after emerging triumphant from a tournament held in Dublin at the weekend.
The young Reds saw off Celtic in a tense penalty-shoot-out leaving coach Phil Roscoe delighted with his side's overall showing at the competition.
Roscoe told Liverpoolfc.tv: "We had a tournament over in Dublin for the 1997 group which is the younger U15s and U14s.
"We managed to get to the final against Celtic where we went on to win on penalties.
"I think there were between four or five thousand fans watching so it was obviously a very good experience for the players.
"We played Leicester on the Friday as well as Utrecht and a Republic of Ireland select XI side on Saturday. We then qualified for the final and took on Celtic.
"I think there were about two thousand people crammed behind the goal so it was very real for them. It was a pressurized situation for them to face at such a young age - and they did very well."
Academy manager Steve Cooper was also pleased with the success but insisted the overall experience of tournament football was what mattered most.
Cooper said: "It's all part of our player development program. We aim to take every player away at least twice a year. Basically, the rationale behind it is that if any players are going to move on to the first-team then they are going to have to be able to handle world football.
"The obvious way to do that is to enter tournaments around the world at young ages and give them experience of playing at different climates, against different cultures and alternative styles of football.
"There are some fantastic academies in Europe. If you look at the likes of Sporting Lisbon who we played in the NextGen last week, as well as Ajax, Barcelona and Real Madrid. We have played against all of those teams at different ages over the past 12 months, so it's really given the boys some great experience."
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