Liverpool players and staff went on a leisurely stroll around the nondescript but elegant city of Eindhoven on Wednesday morning and the first thought when happening upon them was, 'Oh, there's the youth team'.
In some respects, it was. With 12 first-team heavyweights left in England, Liverpool's travelling party to the Netherlands represented an ensemble cast of fringe players, teenagers on the brink of the first team – and then a few other kids plucked from the academy to make up the numbers.
Arne Slot did not care a jot about the result and he did not even try to hide that on the eve of this match.