Liverpool stayed over in Eindhoven on Wednesday night before making their way back to Merseyside on Thursday.
Some who made the trip will have woken up feeling refreshed and positive after making a good impression for the Reds.
But one who will have been simply desperate to get home is young Amara Nallo, who was sent off just four minutes into his senior Liverpool debut.
It was a somewhat harsh red card for Nallo, who arguably had Jarell Quansah covering his mistake.
With referee Tobias Stieler quick to seal the 18-year-old’s fate, though, he had to accept the shame of his professional debut being ended so prematurely.
As it turned out, Nallo became Liverpool’s youngest ever red card recipient, beating Michael Owen’s record of almost 27 years. And as the centre-back attempts to deal with his situation, Owen has already given an insight into how he must be feeling.
Michael Owen serves as Amara Nallo blueprint
Owen was sent off for Liverpool on his 43rd appearance for the club. Aged 18 years and 117 days, he was at the time the youngest player to be given his marching orders in Liverpool history.
Of course, Owen still went on to have an excellent career at Anfield, even if his 158 goals have been somewhat airbrushed from history owing to his decision to join Man United later in his career.
Ironically, Owen’s notorious sending off came against United. The striker lunged in on Ronny Jonsen and was given a second yellow card at Old Trafford in 1998. And speaking to The Daily Mail about the incident in 2021, Owen provided a window into how Nallo must now be feeling.
“I went in late on Ronny Jonsen, a really bad tackle and got sent off,” he said. “Of the whole part of the day, the bit I remember most was being in the shower and being a little bit emotional, thinking I had let everyone down, even though I’d just scored.”
“After five minutes sat there on my own I felt almost as if my shoulders just dropped and I felt as if I’d just come back to life.
‘I’d built myself up so much just to play and win and score and kick everyone and score as much as I could that I was just in a real trance, in a way. I just remember falling back down to earth and thinking: ‘That’s not a state of mind you want to ever be in again’.”
What Owen did next
Owen’s sending off was obviously more impactful than Nallo’s. The Liverpool academy graduate was already a big part of the first-team picture and was guaranteed to get more game time.
Nallo is perhaps unlikely to play again this season and will therefore be less able to shake off the incident, at least in a senior setting.
However, the teenager can perhaps still take note of Owen’s reaction to his own youthful mistake.
“I think I changed after that,” he said. “It was the only time I got sent off in my professional career and it made me realise that in these big games you need fire in your belly but ice cold in your brain. It was a big turning point for me.”
There was a way back for Owen and the same can be true of Nallo. But, for now, the pain of the night before will still be all too fresh.
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