In the absence of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, one young star seized his opportunity to shine for Liverpool in their FA Cup third round tie against Shrewsbury Town on Sunday, and his name is Kaide Gordon.
The former Derby County forward enjoyed a stunning home debut, which was capped off with his left-footed finish to level the score after 34 minutes.
With that strike he became the second-youngest player to score for Liverpool at 17 years and 96 days, just behind Ben Woodburn, who scored his first Liverpool goal at 17 years and 45 days against Leeds in 2016.
Kaide Gordon had already made his Liverpool debut in the Carabao Cup victory over Norwich City in September, in a performance which caught the eye of Jurgen Klopp.
"Kaide Gordon, he is ready for these moments," Klopp told Sky Sports.
"He is just ready for it. He is 16 and has a lot of good situations. What is really impressive is his physicality. He can go on until 95 minutes, that's really strong."
Rooney gave him his opportunity
Before making the move to Anfield last February , Gordon had already shone for Derby County, having been given his opportunity by Wayne Rooney.
He made his debut on December 29 2020 in the 4-0 victory over Birmingham City, and left a strong impression on his former coach.
"I brought Kaide up with the first team initially to train with us for a week to see how he reacted to it, and he was one of the best trainers," Rooney told Sky Sports.
"I kept him with us for a couple of weeks and he's been training at the same level - if not to a better level - than a lot of the other [senior] players."
Liverpool signed best U16 player in England
At Derby, Gordon was considered the best player younger than 16 in England, but the club's financial crisis forced them to accept a 3.3 million euro offer from Liverpool one year ago, and Derby's academy director Darren Wassall was sad to see him go.
"Our loss is definitely Liverpool's gain," Wassall told Goal.
"Kaide [Gordon] is a special talent, and it's great to see that he's already doing well and making an impression. Everyone here is buzzing for him."