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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp labelled home-grown midfielder Curtis Jones an ‘exceptional talent’ following the teenager’s two goals in the Carabao Cup tie against Lincoln on Thursday night.

Jones scored Liverpool’s third and fourth goals in the first half of the7-2 thrashing of the League One side and has widely been tipped for a breakout season with the Reds over the coming months after making 12 first-team appearances in 2019/20.

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The win against Chelsea, Thiago’s debut and the signing of Jota. @Andy_Headspeath & @AlexPurdy21 on Liverpool’s latest…#LFC | #CHELIV

— 90min (@90min_Football) September 22, 2020

Jones spent most of last season as captain of the Under-23 team, but he has been a mainstay of the first-team squad so far in 2020/21. Thursday night represented his first start of the campaign after two previous substitute appearances.

“I think everybody knows my opinion about Curtis Jones. He is an exceptional talent and we will have some fun with him, I’m pretty sure, in the future,” Klopp said, via LiverpoolFC.com.

“Both goals were difficult. I think the second goal, the first touch was absolutely exceptional – between two opponents, little turn, then he opens up, sees the opportunity and finished it off. It was slightly deflected, but that’s just exceptional.”

Need to start talking bout this kid more. Joke of a player @curtisjr_10 #LFC pic.twitter.com/uyXPZWFpye

— Shamal George (@shamalgeorge) September 24, 2020

What’s more, Klopp has hinted that Jones will get a ‘lot of games’ this season if he continues to take his chances when they come, as indeed will any player at the club.

“My door is always open, if a player shows desire, because they all can play football, that’s why they are at Liverpool,” the Reds boss explained.

“Who shows the desire we saw, who shows the attitude we saw, who shows so many things that I like and we want to see when a Liverpool team shows up, then there’s a big chance you’ll get a lot of games during the season.”

Enjoyable night!! Next round, 2 goals and a top team performance?✅….also happy to have grabbed man of the match. pic.twitter.com/5B4I5nz8ik

— Curtis Jones (@curtisjr_10) September 24, 2020

Jones is wearing the number 17 shirt this season, previously worn by Anfield legend Steven Gerrard.

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Bayern Munich were victorious in the UEFA Super Cup final on Thursday, but required extra time to defeat a stubborn Sevilla side 2-1.

With the game level 1-1 after 90 minutes, Bayern’s unlikely hero was substitute Javi Martinez, who looped his header past Bono to seal Bayern’s first trophy of the 2020/21 season.

The game got off to a flying start when Los Palanganas were awarded a 13th minute penalty after Ivan Rakitic was fouled by David Alaba. The spot kick was tucked away confidently by Lucas Ocampos.

Bayern levelled things up before the break courtesy of Leon Goretzka’s calm finish and Die Roten then had two goals ruled out in the second half, one for offside and another for a foul in the build up. Sevilla also spurned a golden chance to win the game in the dying minutes and things would eventually be settle by a Martinez header in the first half of extra time.

Here’s 90min player ratings from a tense night in Budapest…

Manuel Neuer (GK) – 8/10 – Did everything he had to with minimal fuss. Only faced three shots in normal time – and one was a penalty. Made a vital save to send the game to extra time.

Benjamin Pavard (RB) – 7/10 – Defended well and was close to scoring in the first half, wriggling free of his marker like a centre-forward.

Niklas Sule (CB) – 7/10 – Did fine but wasn’t caused that many problems, especially in the second half.

David Alaba (CB) – 6/10 – The penalty he conceded was soft but it was still clumsy from the Austrian. Bounced back well thereafter, building Bayern’s attacks from the back.

Lucas Hernandez (LB) – 7/10 – Good to see him continue his return from injury. Suso caused a few problems but he was largely solid.

Leon Goretzka (CM) – 7/10 – Showed ice cool composure to score Bayern’s equaliser. Burst forward for his side regularly but faded after the break.

Joshua Kimmich (CM) – 8/10 – Kept things ticking over superbly. The multi-disciplined German was a joy to watch.

Thomas Muller (AM) – 6/10 – Spurned a tap-in in the first half – very unlike the world’s first and only Raumdeuter. Struggled to pick apart Sevilla’s stubborn low block.

Leroy Sané (RW) – 6/10 – Always dangerous but decision making was lacking at key moments. Had a goal ruled out for a very soft foul.

Robert Lewandowski (ST) – 7/10 – Sumptuous touch in the box led to Goretzka’s goal. Will be absolutely devastated not to score. He loves goal you see.

Serge Gnabry (LW) – 7/10 – A constant threat. He weaved in and out of defenders pulling the trigger at will.

Corentin Tolisso – 6/10

Alphonso Davies – 6/10

Javi Martinez – 8/10

Jerome Boateng – N/A

Bono (GK) – 6/10 – Made several good saves in the first half to make up for a poor mistake that could have proved costly. Should have done better for Bayern’s winning goal.

Jesus Navas (RB) – 8/10 – The wily veteran fared fairly well against his fleet-footed opposite number. Also broke forward with success at times.

Jules Kounde (CB) – 6/10 – The Manchester City target had a tough time against one of the best forward lines in the world. His yellow card was quite harsh.

Diego Carlos (CB) – 7/10 – Completely dominant in the air and dealt with Bayern’s forward line running in behind pretty well. However, his tragic mistake led to the corner and Bayern’s winner. He looked very sad after it went in, poor sod.

Sergio Escudero (LB) – 7/10 – Drove forward whenever he could and surprisingly missed a few chances to score.

Joan Jordan (CM) – 5/10 – Picked up the stupidest yellow card of all time, blocking a quick free kick after Anthony Taylor asked him very nicely not to.

Fernando (CM) – 6/10 – Had a tough task keeping Bayern’s midfield quiet and struggled at times.

Ivan Rakitic (CM) – 7/10 – Stepping into Ever Benega’s boots was never going to be easy but he fared well, winning his side the penalty and looking classy on the ball.

Suso (RW) – 5/10 – Caused Bayern a few problems early on but faded in the second half and was rightly being substituted.

Luuk de Jong (ST) – 7/10 – His lovely cushioned header led to his side’s penalty. Unlucky to be replaced before the hour mark.

Lucas Ocampos (LW) – 6/10 – His beautiful no-look penalty gave his side the lead. Offered an important counter-attacking threat but was starved of service.

Nemanja Gudelj – 6/10

Youssef En-Nesyri – 5/10

Oliver Torres – 6/10

Franco Vazquez – N/A

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The football just keeps on coming. All the football, all the time. You’ll have Friday to recuperate a little, but then we’ll be straight back into it that evening and all throughout the weekend.

But for Thursday night, there were still a few Carabao Cup fixtures to be settled, with Liverpool and defending champions Manchester City among the six teams in action.

C’mon then, let’s get into it.

⚽ @AElGhazi7
⚽ Bertrand Traoré
⚽ Ollie Watkins

Safely into Round Four of the #CarabaoCup! ✅ pic.twitter.com/A9YOLNIu28

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) September 24, 2020

Ollie Watkins came off the bench to score his first goal for Aston Villa during their routine victory at Bristol City.

The former Brentford forward slotted in at the back post just three minutes after his introduction in the second half. The Villans had previously taken a commanding lead inside 14 minutes thanks to strikes from Anwar El Ghazi and Bertrand Traore.

Dean Smith’s side will host Stoke in the next round.

TAKI ??#LFC | #CarabaoCup pic.twitter.com/tOTJlMj4Pe

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 24, 2020

Liverpool fielded a number of established first team players during their trip to Lincoln, resulting in a thumping win over their League One opponents.

Xherdan Shaqiri was handed a rare start and gave everyone a reminder of his abilities by whipping in a terrific free kick in the ninth minute. Takumi Minamino grabbed his first goal for the club nine minutes later, curling into the top right corner from outside the box.

The Reds were four goals up by half time as Curtis Jones netted a quick double, the first another beauty and the second a deflected strike from range. Minamino got his second just after the break, converting on the rebound.

Lincoln pulled one back through Tayo Edun’s cool left-footed finish, though Marko Grujic soon restored Liverpool’s five-goal advantage with a low strike from outside the box.

The Imps again pulled one back as Lewis Montsma powered in a header which just about creeped over the line before Divock Origi stuck in a seventh for the visitors late on.

Liverpool have a home time against Arsenal to look forward to in what is arguably the pick of the fourth round matches.

? TEAM! ?

? 2-1 ? #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re pic.twitter.com/qY9GJXa5q5

— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 24, 2020

Manchester City were made to work hard for their 2-1 victory over Championship outfit Bournemouth.

17-year-old striker Liam Delap, son of former Stoke midfielder Rory, made the most of his first start for Pep Guardiola’s side, finishing delightfully from Phil Foden’s through ball early on.

Sam Surridge pulled the Cherries back into the contest in the 22nd minute, jinking and turning inside the box before arrowing a low shot past Zack Steffen.

Guardiola brought on Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling in the second half in the search for a winner, but it was Foden who made the most of a fortunate bounce off the post to put City back in front.

City travel to Turf Moor to take on Burnley in the next round.

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Finding a good goalkeeper is key for any football side. You can be as good as you want in attack, but if you’ve got a poor shot stopper behind you, you’re not going too far.

The Premier League has plenty of goalkeepers who can rightly be viewed as some of the finest in the world, but there’s also a handful who leave a little to be desired at times.

Because nobody asked, let’s rank each side’s number one, as they stand at the start of the 2020/21 season!

Tin foil hats on….

Often guilty of an abysmal mistake or an inexplicable decision, McCarthy has given Southampton more than a few sleepless nights.

With Angus Gunn and Fraser Forster waiting in the wings, McCarthy knows any error could be his last as the Saints’ starter.

Like most of the West Brom squad, Man Utd academy graduate Johnstone looks like he might have found his level in the Championship.

Even then, his return of 14 clean sheets from 46 games doesn’t hold up against some of West Brom’s direct rivals – most of whom exceeded that milestone with fewer appearances.

This season marks his first experience of Premier League football.

After replacing Kiko Casilla at the end of last season, 20-year-old Frenchman Meslier responded with a return of seven clean sheets from ten games. He’s got game.

The problem is that he’s yet to find a way to carry over to the top flight, where he has really struggled so far. It’s been rough.

To be fair, he has time on his side to improve.

Pickford’s a funny one. He’s capable of looking like a wall one week, but balances that out with about two months of frustrating showings and mindless errors.

The Everton man is guilty of some of the most confusing mistakes you’re ever likely to see and finished last season with a 63.4% save percentage – ahead of only Kepa Arrizabalaga. Shudder.

Ramsdale is undoubtedly one of the league’s better young goalkeepers, but that reputation isn’t good enough to save him on this list.

After proving unable to stop Bournemouth getting relegated, Ramsdale has been given the unenviable takes of filling the void left by Dean Henderson at Bramall Lane. At 22, he still has some room to grow.

Ryan is one of the division’s most unspectacular goalkeepers. He does his job at a solid level, and that’s fine.

Australia’s number one has done enough thus far to keep Brighton in the Premier League, and at the end of his day, that’s what he’s paid to do. Easy.

With a little more consistency, Dúbravka could easily be towards the top of this list.

You’ll often find Slovakia international pulling off a worldie save, but following that with a nightmarish error (no player made more mistakes leading to goals in 2019/20 than Dubravka with five).

If he can eradicate that side of the game, he’ll be quick to climb up this list.

Fabiański is a tricky one to pin down. He has proven himself as a great Premier League goalkeeper in the past, but whether he still has that in him is a different question entirely.

After a very strong 2018/19, the former Arsenal and Swansea man looked less impressive as West Ham were flirting with relegation last season (which was by no means solely on Fabiański).

He’s yet to showcase any real improvement this year and at 35, his best years might be behind him.

Chelsea’s new boy is somewhat of an unknown, but all the signs suggest he should be a great upgrade on Arrizabalaga.

He was one of Ligue 1’s most reliable goalkeepers last season, keeping out 78.4% of the shots he faced.

That was good enough to make him third in the division – well ahead of some of the goalkeepers from the league’s top sides.

He also comes Petr Cech approved.

Is Areola actually good? His CV suggests so, with Areola having played for Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Villarreal and France. He’s a big old unit, with great reflexes and distribution

However, at 27, he’s so far struggled to hold down a first-team place at the very top level.

Now at Fulham, he has the chance to either go the way or Edwin van der Sar or Sergio Rico…

Villa’s decision to throw a cool £20m at Arsenal to sign Martínez was a little wild, but it speaks volumes of just how impressive he was at the end of the 2019/20 season.

The Argentine looked like a viable threat to Bernd Leno’s spot in the team, and it came as no surprise to see that plenty of sides wanted to snap him up this summer.

The FA Cup winner has already kicked off the season with a penalty save.

Links between Chelsea and Guaita were always a little confusing, but they did make some sense. The Spaniard knows what he’s doing between the sticks.

His 71.4% save percentage from last season was the best return from any goalkeeper from a side outside the top nine, and his reliable shot stopping made up for Palace’s lack of fire power in attack.

He’s also something of an FPL favourite.

In his last two full seasons either side of his shoulder injury, Pope was one of the Premier League’s finest.

He led Burnley to one of the top defensive records in the league in 2019/20 and came desperately close to taking home the Golden Glove award.

Now, Pope’s an England squad regular and is many fans’ preferred starter.

A core part of the Portuguese revolution at Molineux, Patrício’s excellent form has helped Wolves establish themselves as a genuine threat to the top four.

A Euros and Nations League winner, Patrício does is give you a solid 7/10 every week, and that’s good enough for seventh spot on this list.

When you’re the son of the legendary Peter Schmeichel, you better be a good goalkeeper. Fortunately for Kasper, he’s exactly that.

The Leicester man is a commanding force in the penalty area, helping the Foxes back towards the top of the table. There was a time last season in which Leicester looked like viable title contenders, and that was largely down to Schmeichel’s form.

A few years ago, De Gea would have been at the top of this list, and it wouldn’t have been close. The Manchester United man isn’t quite at the peak of his powers these days, but he’s still a good goalkeeper.

He’s guilty of the odd howler, but he makes up for it by pulling off some saves which don’t even look humanly possible.

There was a reason that Arsenal were so prepared to offload Martínez this summer, and that reason was Leno.

Without attracting much hype, Leno has quietly established himself as one of the game’s top shot stoppers. He was vital during Unai Emery’s turbulent reign and is now living his best life under Mikel Arteta.

Few goalkeepers are as frustrating as Lloris. He makes a few too many mistakes, but more than balances that out with some utterly outrageous saves.

The World Cup winner’s save percentage of 79.6% was the highest of any goalkeeper in the Premier League last season, and it was no surprise to see Spurs suffer so much while he was out injured.

It was always going to be a two-horse/Brazilian race for top spot, but the unlucky man to miss out is Manchester City’s Ederson.

The Brazilian’s shot stopping is only part of what makes him so exciting. He’s almost a third centre-back for Pep Guardiola’s side, relying on his passing and creativity more than any goalkeeper in world football.

Out front is Liverpool’s Alisson, whose arrival at Anfield was key in Jürgen Klopp’s side’s rise to the top of the football mountain.

His excellent positioning and reflexes make him a fantastic sweeper keeper, and he’s just as good with his feet as he is with his hands. He’s the gold standard of goalkeeping in England these days.

For more from ​Tom Gott, follow him on ​Twitter!

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Liverpool or Real Madrid may be able to sign Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe for as little as £91m next summer, according to reports in France.

Mbappe has carved out a reputation as one of the best players in the world since bursting onto the scene several years ago. During the 2018/19 campaign he managed 39 goals in 43 games, while last term he registered 49 direct goal involvements from 37 appearances.

The generational talent has just two years left on his PSG deal and understands he is approaching an important crossroads in his career. Reports have claimed the forward has already informed the Ligue 1 champions of his desire to leave next summer. If that is true, Real Madrid and Liverpool would be at the head of the queue to secure his services.

Both clubs have kept in contact with Mbappe regarding a future move and according to L’Equipe, the Frenchman could be available for just £91m. This would represent a significant loss for PSG, who signed the 21-year-old for a whopping £130.5m from Monaco back in 2018 following a season long loan.

Despite this, unless Mbappe pens a new deal at the Parc des Princes, his current employers may have no choice but to bite the bullet and sell in order to avoid the prospect of losing him on a free transfer.

Liverpool have not made a properly big money signing since splashing £75m on Virgil van Dijk and £67m on Alisson in 2018. That being said, the Reds have bolstered their ranks with several new recruits this summer as they look to defend the Premier League title.

Diogo Jota, Thiago Alcantara and Kostas Tsimikas have all joined Jurgen Klopp’s squad, who have made an unbeaten start to the season, defeating Leeds and Chelsea thus far.

Let’