Liverpool Under-18s leak new away kit for 2024/25 season
- Liverpool's unreleased away kit on show during Under-18 friendly
- Reds returning to plain black base for new design
- Under-18 game ended in racism storm
By Tom Gott
Liverpool's Under-18 side debuted the club's unreleased away kit for the 2024/25 season during a pre-season friendly on Saturday.
The Reds are yet to formally reveal the details of their new away strip but eagle-eyed fans noticed the academy side sporting the black strip which has been circulating on social media for the past few weeks during Saturday's friendly against Eintracht Frankfurt.
After their controversial green-and-white design from 2023/24, Liverpool will return to a simple black kit for the coming campaign, with turquoise used to accent the sleeves and the side of the shorts.
There is also a tribute to the 97 lives lost as a result of the Hillsborough disaster on the back of the neck.
Unfortunately, the friendly ended in chaos after a Liverpool player accused an opponent of using a racial slur during the game.
BILD state that, with the score tied at 1-1, Liverpool refused to continue the game in the aftermath of the accusation, and so Frankfurt were awarded a 3-0 victory.
After the game, Frankfurt sporting director Timmo Hardung confirmed they planned to take the accusations seriously but believed the incident was simply a misunderstanding relating to the word 'digga', which roughly translates from German to 'bro' or 'dude' in English.
"Our entire youth academy is like Eintracht Frankfurt, multicultural, and we have clear values that we live by and constantly demand," sporting director Timmo Hardung said. "Racism has no place here, but we still take such an accusation seriously.
"After consultation, our player confirmed that he had used the word 'digga', which is common in youth slang, in the course of a normal game. We have no doubt that this statement is correct. We can rule out racism, it is a linguistic issue and we therefore hope that we have also cleared up the misunderstanding with the players concerned and those responsible at Liverpool."