Harvey Elliott has been savaged by the foreign press after making his Champions League debut in Liverpool’s win over Inter Milan. Jurgen Klopp made the surprise decision to start the wonderkid at the San Siro on Wednesday, despite him only recently returning from a serious ankle injury.
The midfielder became the youngest Reds player to start a Champions League match in Liverpool’s history by appearing against Inter.
While not at his best, Elliott was solid for the Reds until he was replaced by Naby Keita just before the hour mark.
Liverpool finally found a breakthrough in the deadlock after Elliott came off, with Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah securing the win.
Given that this was his first start since returning from the injury he suffered against Leeds in September, many observers agreed that Klopp can be satisfied.
But while that is the view of many at Anfield, it would appear that the foreign press were less than impressed with Elliott’s performance.
Liverpool starlet Harvey Elliott savaged by foreign press after Champions League debut (Image: Getty Images)
French newspaper L’Equipe handed Elliott a match rating of just three out of ten, the joint-lowest on the pitch alongside Diogo Jota and Lautaro Martinez.
Elliott was placed in the ‘flops’ section of their analysis, with the Englishman accused of ‘lacking pace’.
They also took aim at ‘mistakes’ he made in the 27th and 42nd minutes, as well as a cross to Salah that was ‘not strong enough’.
Italian paper Gazzetta dello Sport was also disparaging of Elliott’s performance, handing him a five, the lowest score of any Liverpool player.
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Elliott became the youngest Liverpool player to start a Champions League game in the club's history (Image: Express Sport)
“Harvey can play so much better he plays in the spaces, because that’s usually his natural game these half-spaces around the middle three,” Klopp said.
“He is naturally offensive-minded. He had some really good moments but we all know he can do better but he did the job, he worked incredibly hard.
“When you are 18 and you play against one of the most experienced teams – and they are Italian – then it is not a walk in the park.