Liverpool starlet Doak stumbles around before collapsing in clash

Liverpool teen sensation Ben Doak collapsed after a clash of heads in horror scenes during the Reds’ UEFA Youth League clash with Sporting Lisbon. The Scottish winger came off worse after going up for a header with a Sporting defender. 

Doak, who has played five times for Jurgen Klopp’s first team, jumped for a header with the Sporting player and appeared to stumble. The 17-year-old could be seen holding his forehead for a couple of seconds before losing his balance. 

In very concerning scenes, he then wobbled before falling to the floor clutching his head. The game was halted immediately and he received treatment for around two minutes. 

Liverpool’s medics could be seen sprinting onto the pitch to provide assistance to the youngster. The former Celtic youngster eventually rose to his feet but was taken off the pitch. 

Having already made his senior debut for the Scottish giants aged 16, he then appeared for Liverpool for the first time last November in an EFL Cup tie with Derby. Doak has made four further competitive appearances for Klopp’s side, with two in the Premier League and two in the FA Cup. 

Klopp raved about Doak following a mid-season friendly win over AC Milan during the World Cup break. The starlet had been one of a couple of academy players to impress in the 4-1 win. 

“When you bring on the kids [in the] second half and you see the pass from Bobby Clark and the whole performance from Stefan [Bajcetic], the performance from Mel [Frauendorf] as a right full-back and then Ben Doak comes on, 16 years old, and is this kind of natural force, it’s really cool to see,” Klopp said. 

“In these 10, 11 days, the kids especially, everybody made a real step forward. 

“That’s why these things are so important, that we can involve them. And in general, tonight was the result of the last 10 days what we saw in training and tonight we could bring it on the pitch, which is obviously nice.”