Result: Aston Villa 1-4 Liverpool
Date: 08 January 2021
Venue: Villa Park
Liverpool booked their spot in the fourth round of the FA Cup after thrashing a young Aston Villa team 4-1 on Friday evening.
Villa had a coronavirus outbreak at their main training ground, with a number of first-team players and staff testing positive and the whole team had to isolate, with the under-23s taking to the field under their manager Mark Delaney while Liverpool were pretty much at full strength.
The Reds got off to the perfect start after Mane opened the scoring in just the fourth minute with a header at the near post after an inch-perfect cross by Curtis Jones.
Georginio Wijnaldum should have made it 2-0 for Jurgen Klopp's charges in the tenth minute after latching onto a through ball over the defence with a side-footed volley that missed just wide.
The visitors took their foot off the pedal somewhat after that, with their best chances coming after the half-hour mark where Mohamed Salah was denied twice by shot-stopper Akos Onodi.
Villa grew in the game towards the latter stages of the first stanza and Louie Barry incredibly equalised just before the break with a side-footed finish past goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher after racing clear on goal from Teddy Rowe's long pas.
Salah thought he had restored the lead for the Reds nine minutes after the break after striking a low shot from close range under the hands of Onodi in a goal-mouth scramble but the goal was disallowed for offside.
Wijnaldum eventually restored their lead on the hour-mark with side-footed shot towards the bottom corner after he was teed up by Takumi Minamino inside the box.
Mane took the game away from the young Villa side two minutes later with a looping header over Onodi to extend the Reds' advantage.
Salah added a fourth goal for the Reds in the 65th minute with a thumping effort on the turn inside the box after he was setup by Xherdan Shaqiri.
Villa were offered better resistance after conceding three goals in five minutes and the closest they came to conceding again was in the last five minutes after Thiago Alcantara rattled the crossbar as the Reds marched on to the next round.
