Liverpool XI that narrowly avoided FA Cup upset and what happened next

Liverpool faces League One team Barnsley in the FA Cup third round on Monday, and it's been 10 years since Jurgen Klopp fielded a much-changed side in the competition

Jurgen Klopp almost lost his first FA Cup game in charge of Liverpool(Image: Getty Images)

Over the last 10 years, Liverpool fans have witnessed their team clinch titles both domestically and internationally, including two Premier League titles and a sixth European Cup.

However, the Reds' performance in the FA Cup has been somewhat subdued since 2016, with their 2022 penalty shootout victory against Chelsea in the final at Wembley being the only time they've advanced beyond the quarterfinals since 2015.

As a third-round clash with League One side Barnsley looms on Monday, it's the perfect time to look back at Liverpool's FA Cup campaign from a decade ago. With the Reds going strong in both the League Cup and Europa League during the 2015-16 season, their third-round FA Cup tie against League Two Exeter was not high on the list of priorities.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp chose to field an almost unrecognizable XI for the tie at Exeter. With a starting line-up averaging 22 years of age and a combined total of just 34 first-team appearances that season, the Reds managed to secure a 2-2 draw with Exeter.

This result set up a replay at Anfield, where they clinched a comfortable 3-0 victory before succumbing to West Ham in the next round. So, who were these lesser-known members of Liverpool's FA Cup squad that held the fort for Klopp when he had no other options, and what became of them? Let's delve into it...

Adam Bogdan

Brought in to serve as a back-up to goalkeeper Simon Mignolet in 2015, Bogdan's Liverpool career may have reached its zenith in his debut match. This was a League Cup tie against Carlisle, where he became the hero of a penalty shoot-out following a 2-2 draw, saving the Reds from another embarrassment against League Two opposition.

Liverpool managed to hold on for a draw against Exeter(Image: Getty Images)

His performance, coupled with Mignolet's poor form, earned him a brief stint in the Premier League. However, a disastrous display in a 3-0 defeat to Watford ensured that his time in the spotlight would be fleeting. The match against Exeter was another forgettable night for Bogdan, as he conceded directly from a corner kick by Lee Holmes.

The signing of Loris Karius the subsequent summer marked the end of Bogdan's tenure at Liverpool. A spell plagued by injuries at Wigan and two years at Hibernian ensued, before the Hungarian keeper returned to his home country to join Ferencvaros in 2020. Here, he saw limited first-team action but managed to secure three consecutive league titles before last playing in 2023.

Connor Randall

Raised in Melling and a part of the club since he was six, Randall made his senior debut for Liverpool that season in a 1-0 League Cup victory over Bournemouth. He only played once more before starting as right-back against Exeter.

Randall would only make five more appearances for the Reds, leaving on the first of two loan deals in 2017 before making an unexpected move to Bulgaria in 2019 to sign permanently for Arda Kardzhali. He stayed there for just one season, joining Ross County in the summer of 2020. Since then, he's racked up more than 170 appearances and remained with the club following the team's relegation from the Scottish Premiership last season.

Tiago Ilori

Ilori, a Portuguese centre-back, was signed by Rodgers from Sporting Lisbon in the summer of 2013. Prior to the Exeter FA Cup tie, he had never made a senior appearance for Liverpool and was on loan at Aston Villa when Klopp first arrived at Anfield. With no appearances for Villa by January, Ilori was recalled by the Reds to alleviate their ongoing injury crisis at center-back.

Despite this, Ilori would only play twice more for Liverpool before moving to Reading in 2017 – one of seven clubs he has played for since leaving. He currently plays for Georgian side FC Dila, helping them secure a second-place finish in the top flight in 2025.

Jose Enrique

Once a regular in the first team at left-back, Enrique's playing time was significantly reduced due to a persistent knee injury. His appearances at centre-back against Exeter were two of only three he would make under Klopp in his last season on Merseyside. The Spaniard hung up his boots the following year after a season with Real Zaragoza in Spain's second tier.

Brad Smith

Liverpool's second goalscorer against Exeter, the Australian left-back, was also a product of Liverpool's youth system, having moved from New South Wales to Merseyside in his early teens. Making 10 appearances for the Reds that season, and earning caps for the Australian senior national team after previously representing England at youth level, Smith was one of the more experienced youngsters to feature in the match.

Despite leaving Liverpool that summer, he remained in the Premier League, joining fellow Red Jordon Ibe at Bournemouth. However, the move to the south coast didn't quite pan out for Smith, and from 2020 to 2025, he played across the pond in the United States, turning out for several MLS teams, including FC Cincinnati in 2025. Now aged 31 and without a club as of the start of 2026, it seems unlikely that Smith will add to his 23 international caps, having last represented the Socceroos in 2021.

Joao Carlos Teixeira

The Portuguese attacking midfielder was another recruit for Liverpool from Sporting Lisbon. His first senior football appearances came in the 2013-14 season, donning the Reds' shirt. Teixeira featured in both matches against Exeter, scoring his only competitive goal for Liverpool in the return 3-0 victory at Anfield.

After making just eight senior appearances, Teixeira left Liverpool permanently. Since then, he's had stints at seven different clubs, with spells back in Portugal interspersed with time in the Netherlands, Qatar and, most recently, China. He's been playing for Shanghai Shenhua since 2023, even lifting the Chinese FA Super Cup with them last year.

Kevin Stewart

Although not technically a Liverpool academy product, having made his senior debut during a loan spell at Crewe after starting his career at Tottenham, Stewart was relatively inexperienced when he took to the pitch for the Reds at Exeter. Most of his senior experience had been gained during loan spells with League Two sides Cheltenham and Burton.

This marked the beginning of twenty senior appearances for Liverpool before he moved on to Hull City in 2017 – a transfer that famously saw Andy Robertson head the other way, becoming one of the Premier League's best value signings of the past decade. After spending three years at Hull and another two at Blackpool, the midfielder hasn't played professionally since 2023. He earned his only two senior caps for Jamaica in 2022.

Cameron Brannagan

Given his first-team debut by Rodgers in one of the Northern Irishman's final matches against Bordeaux in the Europa League, Brannagan was still a teenager when he played in midfield against Exeter for Liverpool, one of nine appearances he would make for the Reds.

After a loan spell at Fleetwood the following season, the former England U20 international has become a fixture at Oxford, aiding the U's promotion to the Championship in 2024 and taking on the role of club captain at the start of the current season. He's nearing 350 appearances and has netted over 60 goals for the club.

Ryan Kent

Perhaps the most successful of Liverpool's academy graduates to feature at Exeter, winger Kent made his lone senior appearance for the club in the 2-2 draw, but didn't play in the replay at Anfield. Loan spells at Barnsley and Bristol came next, sandwiching a brief stint in the Bundesliga with SC Freiburg. However, it was his move to Scotland that marked a turning point in Kent's career, as he joined Rangers under Gerrard's stewardship.

During his five seasons at Ibrox, Kent clocked up over 200 appearances and netted 33 goals, playing a key role in Rangers' triumphant 2021 Scottish Premier League campaign. He also helped guide the team to the Europa League final in 2022, under Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who now serves as Slot's assistant at Liverpool.

However, life post-Rangers hasn't been as fruitful for Kent, with a short-lived spell at Turkish side Fenerbahce followed by a stint with Seattle Sounders; as of 2026, the former PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year is currently without a club.

Jerome Sinclair

Sinclair, who scored Liverpool's other goal against Exeter, still holds the record as the club's youngest-ever player. He made his senior debut aged just 16 years and six days in a League Cup victory over West Brom, a club he had left less than two years prior to join the Reds' youth academy.

Those were just two of his mere five senior outings for Liverpool before his 2016 departure to Watford, where he would rack up only 14 appearances across five seasons, punctuated by five successive loan spells. The final of these, in 2021 with Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia, marked the end of Sinclair's professional playing days.

His more recent pursuits have included running a Morley's fast food franchise in his native Birmingham and turning out for VZN FC in the six-a-side Baller League UK.

Christian Benteke

As Liverpool's headline summer acquisition of 2015, the Belgian striker's presence on this list speaks volumes about how poorly suited he was to the club. Desperate for firepower, the Reds splashed out £32.5 million ($43.8 million) to secure Benteke from Aston Villa.

Benteke was a target man who simply didn't fit into either Rodgers or Klopp's tactical approaches, and despite flashes of brilliance, by January 2016, it was becoming abundantly clear that Liverpool's would-be star striker wasn't the solution they'd hoped for.

By the summer of 2016, it was seen as a victory that Liverpool managed to recoup most of Benteke's transfer fee in a sale to Crystal Palace. Despite an initial burst of 15 league goals in his first season, he only netted 20 more over the next five years, finally departing Selhurst Park in 2022 – also the year he earned his last of 45 caps for Belgium.

A three-year stint in the United States ensued, where he clinched the MLS Golden Boot with DC United in 2023, before signing with UAE club Al Wahda at the start of 2026.