Barry shares delight in scoring on Aston Villa debut despite FA Cup loss to Reds

Louie Barry admitted that scoring on his Aston Villa debut against Liverpool in the FA Cup was one of the proudest moments of his life despite the 4-1 third round defeat.

The 17-year-old netted a first-half equaliser as a youthful Villa side threatened to upset Jurgen Klopp's Premier League champions at Villa Park on Friday night.

Barry was played clean through by fellow debutant Callum Rowe and the young forward spun away from Rhys Williams to fire past Caoimhin Kelleher to bring the young Villains level at half-time.

The youngster told BT Sport: 'Rowey passed the ball through. I knew that I was in as soon as I had seen it.

'It's the proudest I've ever been in myself. I guess my family were screaming at the TV when I hit the back fo the net. I was just happy to score and hopefully there's many more.'

Villa were forced to field a young side consisting of under-23s and under-18s players after their entire first-team - along with manager Dean Smith and his coaching staff - were placed into self-isolation after 14 positive coronavirus tests in the last six days.

The team was managed by former Villa defender and current under-23s coach Mark Delaney, with the group of youngsters assembled and finalised at 10am on Friday morning.

Barry claims that the entire academy structure, along with players who took to the field at Villa Park, should be proud of their achievements despite the defeat.

The striker added: 'I was working hard before and so was everyone else. When I celebrated, everything came out of me. It was relief, kind of. It was good.

'I've never been so proud of a team before. From start to finish we gave our all.

'When I scored I thought we might have even had a chance. It didn't turn out to be, but credit to ourselves and credit to the club.'

Barry's goal towards the end of the first-half cancelled out Sadio Mane's early header after just four minutes, but three goals in five second-half minutes ended Friday's tie.

Gini Wijnaldum, Mo Salah and Mane all found the net in the devastating spell to earn Liverpool a place in round four.