Erik ten Hag gave special recognition to teenage defender Willy Kambwala following Manchester United’s draw with Liverpool.

On Sunday afternoon, the 19-year-old made just his eighth appearance for the Red Devils when the manager gave him his first start at Old Trafford.

Kambwala made an impression even though Liverpool dominated United’s goal for a large portion of the game, which concluded 2-2 thanks to a late penalty kick from Mohamed Salah.

Ten Hag, who handed the Frenchman an unexpected debut at West Ham in December, is obviously a fan of him. He grabbed attention with an incredible tackle to deny Darwin Nunez in the box after the latter failed to control a ball over the top.

After the game, United manager Ten Hag revealed that, because Lisandro Martinez, Jonny Evans, Luke Shaw, and Raphael Varane were all injured, he thought about putting Casemiro at center center back.

He told BBC Sport, “[Kambwala] has been training with us for a while and progressing well.”

“The next generation must take over, and he is doing a fantastic job. For him, the difficult part is keeping up the consistency.

Fantastic chance for him. Although Casemiro can play center half and we have other choices, he deserved it today and demonstrated it on the field.

United failed to register a shot in the first half and appeared to be heading for defeat. Despite this, Bruno Fernandes’ 40-yard lob negated Luis Diaz’s goal, leaving the hosts unhappy after Salah’s penalty equalized Kobbie Mainoo’s goal.

“Very conflicting feelings,” Ten Hag went on. “On the one hand, I’m sad that we let up seven points in a single week after being in a winning position, but we must accept responsibility for our own careless errors.