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Liverpool Under-21s head coach Barry Lewtas saw plenty of positives with his side's 1-1 draw with Benfica in the Premier League international cup, singling out 16-year-old Amara Nallo with high praise.

The young Reds were forced to fight back to claim a point in their second Group C fixture on Sunday - James McConnell, who was named on the bench for the first-team for the Merseyside derby, headed in Mateusz Musialowski's corner.

Lewtas highlighted the opposition's status as a Portuguese second-tier club when discussing his pleasure at the performance he witnessed, as he went on to spotlight Nallo, the left-sided centre back signed from West Ham in August.

He has played a full match in each of the Under-21s' last four run-outs, including against Blackpool's senior team in the EFL Trophy

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"Amara was excellent. Him and Carter Pinnington have been playing quite regularly for us so far together," the coach told the club website. "Listen, he is just 16, and I don’t think we’ve ever asked a lad that young to play at centre-back against senior opposition.

"He should be really proud of his performance. I think the main thing for Amara is he played ever so well but he didn’t let any kind of mistakes or momentum shifts in the game affect him. So he didn’t play like a 16-year-old, that’s for sure."

Also of note was Kaide Gordon's return from injury in the second half. The winger already familiar with first-team action was out injured for 19 months before September though suffered an immediate setback.

Lewtas said: "That’s a big thing for us as