What a display from the Irish English Villa man
It was just Jack Grealish's fifth start for Aston Villa and it was in an FA Cup semi-final. At Wembley. Against Liverpool.
Game's don't come much bigger than that, but the 19-year-old was totally unfazed producing a display that had the football world cooing. Here's how his day panned out....
Peep! Game kicks off. Grealish's hair is perfect.
2mins: Jack likes the look of his match-up against novice full-back Emre Can, winning a free-kick from the German. England fans love a lad who's not afraid of the Germans.
8mins: A determined run into the penalty area comes to a halt with a firm Skrtel challenge that earns Villa a corner.
14mins: Grealish's hair becomes a thing.
https://twitter.com/ThatConnArtist/status/589791824363057152
https://twitter.com/NTXabi/status/589795194603614208
20mins: With Villa well on top, Grealish finding nice pockets of space to operate in.
30mins: Coutinho's deflected effort gives Liverpool the lead, Grealish's hair has drifted out of the game. Maybe he's booking flights to Dublin.
36mins: Grealish receives the ball from Fabian Delph and surges forward, feeding Delph again and the England man centres for Christian Benteke to equalise.
39mins: Takes ball down with a superb first touch but is dispossessed by Lovren. Twitter is falling love as Grealish closes in on first England call-up.
https://twitter.com/DanByrne89/status/589816949712019456
https://twitter.com/MaxMeltzer/status/589816684007006208
https://twitter.com/Kinsella272727/status/589811769733992448
https://twitter.com/MenInBlazers/status/589795774935994369
44mins: More praise from Michael Owen for Grealish. Not for the first time, Shut Up Michael.
Half-time: The lads on BT Sport seem to have ignored Grealish's contributions, Maybe he can fly under the radar after all.
Or not.
https://twitter.com/DietmarHamann/status/589804951129456640
https://twitter.com/TonyBarretTimes/status/589805494673485825
https://twitter.com/SamWallaceIndy/status/589802332952645632
https://twitter.com/DickinsonTimes/status/589806991763238912
https://twitter.com/giggs_boson/status/589800777268473856
48mins: Does Emre Can for pace again, Ian Darke emphasises Grealish's Birmingham upbringing while Owen purrs over how 'easy on the eye' he is as he has visions of Grealish tearing up Euro 2016.
54mins: More quality from Grealish, a quality through-ball finding Fabian Delph who strokes the ball past Simon Mignolet to give Villa a 2-1 lead. The question Grealish needs to ask himself, though, is how he would ever get in the England team with Delph in this sort of form?
60mins: Fouled by Alberto Moreno. Writhes around portraying suitable agony before looking towards referee. More proof he'll be a fine pro. Here's that goal:
61mins: Gives to Benteke and tells him where to return the ball but is tackled on the edge of the penalty area. LEADERSHIP.
https://twitter.com/henrywinter/status/589806716751060992
https://twitter.com/philmcnulty/status/589800871480950784
71mins: Still full of running and leading the counter attack. ENGINE.
https://twitter.com/tylrwllsn/status/589815090829996032
80mins: Feeds Benteke after another run at the Liverpool defence, but the ball pushes the Belgian wide and the chance goes begging.
82mins: Grealish's day comes to an end as Joe Cole comes on. 'He can play all right,' says Owen after a brief discussion of the youngster's choice of boy's shinpads. Fleeting mention of Ireland Under-21 appearances. A great performance from England/Ireland's next hero.
https://twitter.com/giggs_boson/status/589816319748497409
Full time: Villa win 2-1. The real question now is whether Ireland can hold him as England are bound to come calling.
https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/589813498445565953
