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Curtis Jones made history against Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday as he helped Liverpool end its dismal losing streak in style.
The academy graduate was given the nod to start in midfield in the Reds’ latest Champions League outing, with a result needed in order to avoid matching an unwanted 72-year record with a fifth straight defeat.
Liverpool made sure to put those concerns to bed with an emphatic 5-1 victory, with Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai all on the scoresheet, while Florian Wirtz produced his most impressive performance since his summer move with two assists.
One display that may have gone under the radar though was Jones’. The midfielder has had to be patient for his opportunities this season, having only made one league start so far, but he did his chances of keeping his place for Saturday’s trip to Brentford no harm at all on Wednesday.
As per Opta, Jones completed 122 passes against Frankfurt - the most ever by a Liverpool player during a Champions League game since the stats platform began taking records in the 2003/04 season.
Not only that, but he recorded a hugely impressive 96 per cent pass success rate, with only five of his 127 attempts not finding one of his teammates.
Jones’ feat won’t come as a surprise to Steven Gerrard, who holds the 24-year-old in the highest regard, having worked closely with him during his time as a coach at Liverpool’s academy.
In fact, the legendary Reds captain has even gone as far as to suggest that Jones holds more potential in some of his abilities than he did as a player.
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"Curtis is more talented than me in terms of technical, in terms of dribbling ability, in terms of manipulating the ball, close control," Gerrard said when speaking to The Anfield Wrap back in 2023.
"He felt he was more than ready [to break through]. The academy felt he was ready and the first team were probably thinking yeah, he’s ready to come and be a part of it but also to drop in and out.
"Every time Curtis played for me against Everton and Manchester United, he was the man of the match in every single game. That tells me that he’s got what you need to play for Liverpool. He needs to stay in this 11 now. He needs to take the challenge on."
Liverpool.com says: Jones is a player who often gets very unfairly maligned by some supporters, but his quality is there to see, and now the stats are backing him up as well.
He absolutely should hold onto his place in the side for this weekend’s trip to Brentford. It’s going to be tough keeping someone like Alexis Mac Allister out of the side, but keep that sort of level up, and it should be his position to lose.
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