Matters didn't exactly go according to plan for James Norris when the Liverpool youngster travelled to AC Milan in December hoping to help keep alive hopes of UEFA Youth League qualification.
Not that the 18-year-old from West Derby minded too much, though.
Rather than line up at the Centro Sportivo Vismara for the under-19s, Norris instead found himself warming up on the San Siro touchline after being elevated to the first team for their final Champions League group match.
"It was a great experience," he admits. "Me and Max (Woltman) travelled with the 19s expecting to play in that game and when we got off the plane, Barry (Lewtas, the U23s coach) said to us 'you're going with the first team'. He told us just to enjoy it and set a good example.
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"We got in the hotel and met up with the first team, then a few hours before the game realised we were on the bench.
"It was crazy. We weren't scared of it, it was more exciting than anything."
Norris made his Anfield debut a few weeks later in the FA Cup third round tie with Shrewsbury Town, brought on just moments before Fabinho scored Liverpool's final goal in a 4-1 triumph.
"Even if it was just for one or two minutes it was great to get out there in front of the fans," he says. "It was a great experience all round. I came on and 30 seconds later there was a goal!
"The good thing about Liverpool's first team is you'll get chances to go and train with them so you're not a stranger to them.
"People like Sadio Mane, Andy Robertson and James Milner are great for helping you settle in and get to know other people.
"Sadio is great with the young lads, he'll always spend five or 10 minutes out of his day to see how you are doing."
Norris soaked in the San Siro atmosphere and Liverpool's 2-1 triumph in the knowledge the U19s had done their bit by scrapping to a 1-1 draw against Milan to finish top of their UEFA Youth League group and ultimately set up today's last 16 tie against Belgian side Genk at Kirkby (kick-off 2pm).
The teenager was only 16 when he featured - alongside Harvey Elliott, Neco Williams, Rhian Brewster and Sepp van den Berg - in a Liverpool team beaten at home by Genk in the group stage in November 2019.. The following month he made his first-team debut in the Academy side beaten at Aston Villa in the League Cup quarter-final.
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And of the UEFA Youth League, Norris says: "For us, it's massive. It gives us a guide of where we are at because we're coming up against the best U19s in the world. So far through the groups we have done great.
"Genk will be a big test because we watched them against Chelsea (in the play-offs last month) and they turned them over 5-1. They are no mugs and it'll be a good game for us to show what we're all about."
Liverpool finished top of a group that also included Porto and Atletico Madrid, for whom the presence of Fernando Torres on the coaching staff led to a surreal moment.
"We were playing in the game and we could see him on their bench shouting," says Norris.
"It was crazy to be fair. We were thinking 'is that Fernando Torres?!?' but you just cracked on, you didn't have time to think about it really."
Norris, who has been at the Liverpool Academy since U9 level, spent much of his early career playing at left-back but has been used in a variety of roles for the U19s sand U23s this season.
But when asked which is his preferred position, he says: "In the future I'd like to play left-back but if I play centre mid or left wing then it doesn't faze me.
"And you couldn't have a better role model to look up to at Liverpool than Andy Robertson.
"He has changed the game at left-back in a sense the way he goes forward and with his high aggression. It's a blueprint to be able to get into the first team."
