Any winning goal against Liverpool will go down well with Manchester United supporters and the club played a small part in Tottenham's League Cup semi-final victory on Wednesday night.

Lucas Bergvall, Tottenham's matchwinner, was a trialist at United three years ago. The midfielder has come to prominence at Spurs due to the club's injury issues and made only his eighth start for the club in the 1-0 win over Liverpool.

The 18-year-old's neat side-footer past Alisson marked his first goal for Tottenham. "Lucas was brilliant," Spurs coach Ange Postecoglou enthused. "Like I said, I haven't lost sight of the fact that we've got two 18-year-olds, one who's playing at centre back (Archie Gray), it's not even his position.

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"I just don't think people really understand the level of performance that these young guys are giving us at the moment.

"Lucas is just growing all the time. He's got that ability as a footballer to create space for himself. He's got the quality, but he works awfully hard for the team as well."

Bergvall had two separate trials with United when he was with IF Brommapojkarna. The first was in 2020 when Bergvall was 15, before Brexit regulations were imposed on English clubs that prevented them from signing overseas players before they turned 18.

United's academy invested heavily across the summers of 2019 and 2020 to sign overseas talents Hannibal Mejbri, Isak Hansen-Aaroen, Alvaro Fernandez, Marc Jurado, Alejandro Garnacho and Willy Kambwala before the Brexit cut-off.

Sergio de Souza, United’s scout for Scandinavia, then clapped eyes on Bergvall when he was 15 and there was some chatter United could make a bid just shy of £1.5million.

The second trial in 2022 was shortly after Bergvall turned 16 and he claimed an assist in a game for United's Under 16s. Even though United could not sign Bergvall until 2024, the trials were arranged so the club's interest could be established.

Sources say the turnover of United's recruitment staff in 2022 contributed to Bergvall slipping the net. Bergvall ultimately opted to join Djurgardens in December 2022.

Spurs signed Bergvall for £8.5m when he turned 18 last February.