When Jurgen Klopp leads his Liverpool senior side through the final stages of their preparation to face Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League this evening, not all eyes will be on Anfield.
That's because Liverpool's under-19s will first roll out the red carpet for some of the continent's finest talent as FC Porto travel to Merseyside for their UEFA Youth League last-16 tie at Kirkby (kick-off 5:30pm).
After a near-perfect group stage campaign saw them win five of their six encounters, Barry Lewtas' youngsters were assured of a bypass to the second knockout round where they will face the Portuguese giants.
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While the young Reds will be without Stefan Bajcetic for the one-legged affair, as he continues to play an instrumental role in the first-team's hunt for Champions League qualification, they will be boosted by the return of Ben Doak after the forward marked his recovery from a minor muscle injury with a pair of goals and assists during the under-21s' 7-1 thrashing of Leicester City in the Premier League 2 on Saturday.
"Brilliant," was Lewtas' assessment of the young Scot's performance when speaking to the ECHO. "He's come back, he trains with the same intensity as he plays [aggressive] at Kirkby so you've got to be ready with the whistle [laughs].
"He's got a fantastic attitude and loves playing football. I think, the manager [Klopp], Pep [Lijnders] and Vitor [Matos] along with ourselves manage these young lads really well. If they're with us, then they're with us. You see how committed they are to it.
"If they get their opportunity with the first-team - training or games - they attack it. We don't have an issue with that. I think you saw on Saturday that Arthur Melo wanted to come and play the full 90 minutes and he's a senior player. When the players come from the first-team and play with the academy you see the mentality of the club that they come and do it properly - Ben certainly shows that."
Liverpool, however, will be without Youth League marksman Oakley Cannonier, who has scored seven of the Reds' 20 goals in the competition this term, as he continues to be plagued by injuries and is currently sidelined with an issue he sustained against Hertha Berlin last month.
Elsewhere, the young Reds could be forced to field something of a new-look defensive line with Isaac Mabaya still sidelined with injury, while Jarell Quansah and Luke Chambers made temporary switches to Bristol Rovers and Kilmarnock respectively during the January transfer window. Trent Kone-Doherty's involvement is also in doubt after he limped off during the closing stages of the under-18s' defeat to Manchester City on Saturday after suffering an ankle injury.
Pleasingly for the under-19s, Saturday's drubbing of Leicester ended their barren run both results-wise and in front of goal since the turn of the year. And with six of those players who featured at the Academy expected to be involved this evening, there is plenty of optimism for Lewtas to take from last time out.
"I think we've been playing really well, and sometimes when you're not getting results it gets overlooked," added Lewtas. "You can't just win every game. We played a really good Manchester City, I thought we were good. We played a good Chelsea team last week and I thought we were good again.
"Yes, it's not as easy scoring goals against good teams but I do think our season, especially after Christmas, has warranted a little bit more. We've really worked hard on that in individual meetings, team meetings and hard work on the grass. We're not going to score seven every week - that goes without saying. I just think it was nice for all the hard work we've put in that we were able to finish off the attacks."
Should Liverpool beat Porto and progress to the quarter-finals, they will make the trip to either Sporting CP or Ajax.
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