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Liverpool U19s won late on against PSV thanks to a Trent Kone-Doherty goal that booked their place in the UEFA Youth League knockout phase.
None of Trey Nyoni, Rio Ngumoha or Amara Nallo, all of whom are eligible to feature in the Youth League, were involved here, either from the off or from the bench, suggesting they will be involved for the first team in the senior Champions League tie later.
Carter Pinnington moved into midfield with the lack of Nyoni, with Alvin Ayman at left-back. It remained that way for Liverpool until Prince Cisse went off with an injury early in the second, with Haydn Murray-Holme coming on in midfield and Pinnington moving back.
Cisse, who picked up an early yellow card and was treading a fine line a few times when it came to avoiding a second, played center-back.
He had a tricky first half, with a couple of loose passes creating danger in addition to his fouls.
Kieran Morrison, in the number 10 role, was the brightest spark early on, alongside Kone-Doherty, but it was rare that Liverpool managed to play the ball into them in areas anywhere close to PSV shot-stopper Kane Aerts' goal.
Josh Sonni-Lambie, as much as he tried to link things, was a little isolated. Keyrol Figueroa has played well in this competition, but he was absent here.
Midway through the first half, Morrison and Joe Bradshaw switched over, with the former moving out wide. That saw a slight improvement for the pair, but neither was hugely involved.
Morrison tended to try and do everything on his own, while Kone-Doherty appeared increasingly frustrated as the game went on down the opposite flank. The former did go close from a free-kick but it looked like the Reds would not get the win they were pushing for.
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In a game of few clear-cut chances, Amir Bouhamdi of PSV put one low shot narrowly wide and Bradshaw and Morrison saw attempts from the edge of the penalty area either closed down or easily saved.
But then from a late corner, Pinnington headed down for Kone-Doherty to poke home with only a couple of minutes remaining.
Having beaten Galatasaray and Eintracht Frankfurt, in addition to drawing with Atletico and losing heavily to Real Madrid, Liverpool now sits on 10 points from a possible 15 in the Youth League.
Its final group game is against Inter Milan next month. Any result there will see the Reds finish high enough in the standings to qualify for the knockouts.
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