Conor Coady has announced his delight at making his Liverpool debut in the Europa League on Thursday night.

The 19-year-old academy graduate is naturally a centre back but was asked to play in a holding-midfield role in the 1-0 defeat to Anzhi Makhachkala.

Coady was satisfied in his perfroamnce in Russia and hopes to have impressed Brendan Rodgers enough to secure more first-team football.

“I loved it. It is every boy’s dream to make his debut for Liverpool,” he told reporters.

“I felt I had a good game. The gaffer is going to give youngsters a chance and for myself to get a chance was fantastic.

“I put my all into it and was made up to make my debut. You have to be patient and bide your time and hopefully your chance will come.”

The Liverpool Under-21 captain also praised the Reds’ display against the Russian side, insisting they were unfortunate to lose by such a narrow margin.

Coady continued: “I thought we were a bit unlucky to get the result we did as it was a bit of a mistake for their goal.

“I thought we had a good game, sat in there and tactically we were fantastic and we are just a bit gutted we conceded the goal.

“But we will bounce back from this and become better.”

Coady also spoke of his satisfaction at testing himself against former Barcelona star Samuel Eto’o – a memory the young defender is not likely to forget any time soon.

He said: “It is always good to play against the best players in the world and Eto’o has been in his time.

“He has that bit of class about him.”