Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes forward Sadio Mane can challenge Lionel Messi for the Ballon d’Or in years to come.

The Senegal international has been in sensational form in 2019 and actually won Messi’s vote in FIFA’s Best awards in September.

However, he finished fourth in the Ballon d’Or stakes behind the Barcelona forward, team-mate Virgil Van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo.

There is an outside chance Liverpool will try to field that youthful quartet in the Carabao Cup and then immediately fly them to Qatar to sit on the bench for their Club World Cup semi-final.

But Klopp said “not for one second” did he consider splitting the squad and leaving some senior players behind for the League Cup side, which will be managed by Under-23 boss Neil Critchley.

“We had to do it like this. I think it’s a really nice opportunity for the younger players to face that (Villa). I know everybody thinks ‘no chance’ but football is a wonderful game,” he said.

“There was absolutely no chance to do it differently, in the moment when it was clear when it would be played and all the other dates were absolutely not possible for us to play it later.

“At the end we will not suffer because of it. That’s not possible. If somebody thought I should have done it differently, I cannot change that.”