Liverpool pinched that ballboy idea from us! chuckle Mérida

There's nothing new in football - it's all been done before by somebody, somewhere. Take for instance, Divok Origi's crucial late winner which sent Liverpool into their second consecutive Champions League final in Tuesday's return leg against Barcelona. Much of that was down to a quick-thinking ballboy, who delivered the ball to the Liverpool forward while Barça were still regrouping in the area - it was a strategy that was pre-prepared; analysts noted how Barcelona tended to dawdle during set-pieces and all of the ballboys were instructed to get the ball to a Liverpool player as soon as possible in the hope the team could catch the visitors off-guard.

Full screen

Canny Cannonier

Analysts showed they'd done their homework right. Oakley Cannonier, a 14-year-old ballboy at Anfield and Liverpool youth academy player made sure Trent Alexander-Arnold received the ball to take a quick corner while Barça's defence were milling around, chatting among themselves. It gave the Reds a vital, extra second to get first to the ball, Divok Origi sweeping the ball past Ter Stegen who hadn't had time to position his defence.

Great minds think alike

It meant Alexander-Arnold and Origi became part of club history and Cannonier a local hero. Watching the match in Spain were third tier club Mérida AD, who remembered they scored a similar effort from a corner a couple of years ago. The  Extremadura club, recently crowned Third Division champions, published a lighthearted tweet in which they mention Liverpool's fourth goal against Barcelona and how an astute ballboy made it similar to one Moroccan forward Yacine Qasmi scored for Mérida in 2017.

"Hey LFC! We scored a goal which was very similar to yours, from a corner, in 2017.

Our ballboy Darío placed the ball on the corner spot, Óscar Rico took the corner and Yacine Qasmi scored".