{"id":295205,"date":"2023-10-05T15:09:23","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T15:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=295205"},"modified":"2023-10-05T15:09:23","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T15:09:23","slug":"europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Europa League ace set to face Liverpool almost quit footy \u2013 but mum changed mind"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Liverpool and Mohamed Salah will have to get past an ex-Accrington Stanley defender in their Europa League clash against Union-Saint Gilloise on Thursday night at Anfield.<\/p>\n<p>Jurgen Klopp&apos;s men will host Union-Saint Gilloise in their Europa League home opener, having won their first game in the competition this term 3-1 against LASK last month. And if they want to have any hope of beating their Belgian side, they will have to get past towering 6ft 4in defender Ross Sykes, who used to play for Accrington Stanley.<\/p>\n<p>Having initially joined Burnley&apos;s academy at 11-years-old, Sykes soon found himself searching for another team two years later after the Clarets released him. Back in 2015, the Burnley-born defender had been debating whether to give up football entirely, only for his mum to convince him to give it another go.<\/p>\n<p><b>READ MORE:<\/b><b>VAR blunder ref &apos;will not officiate Liverpool for rest of season&apos; as PGMOL make sack call<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>READ MORE:<\/b><b>Wolves&apos; TikTok account brilliantly trolls Jurgen Klopp over more VAR grumbles<\/b><\/p>\n<p>He then had trials at Accrington Stanley in 2015, before signing a two-year professional contract with the club the following year, whom he would make his senior debut for months later in August 2016 in the EFL Trophy. And his time at Accrington Stanley, which spanned from 2015 to 2022 saw the 24-year-old make over 130 appearances for the League Two side.<\/p>\n<p>Back in the summer of 2022, Sykes was signed by Union-Saint Gilloise for an undisclosed fee, with the Belgian side seemingly having tracked the defender for some time. Last term, he made 26 appearances for them, which included starring in their Champions League qualifiers and in the Europa League.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Will Liverpool win the Europa League this season? Let us know in the comments section below<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article31113944.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_Royale-Union-Saint-Gilloise-v-1-FC-Union-Berlin-Group-D-UEFA-Europa-League.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article31113945.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_Union-St-Gilloise-v-Sporting-Charleroi-Jupiler-Pro-League.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>And it was the factor of European football, as well as experiencing a new challenge that prompted Sykes to make the move to Belgium. &quot;I knew little bits about Belgian football as I follow football around the globe,&quot; Sykes told Accrington Stanley&apos;s club website following his departure.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I know most of the clubs over there, it&apos;s a good challenge. It&apos;s an opportunity you can&apos;t turn down, you might never get the opportunity to play abroad again so when it comes around, you have got to take it.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article30794334.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615\/0_Arsenal-FC-v-Fulham-FC-Premier-League.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sky Sports is bringing you 500 live football games to watch, as well access to C<span>ricket, Golf, F1, Boxing, NFL, NBA and more across eight<\/span><span> dedicated channels. Sky Sports is the <\/span><span>only way to watch all the action this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a322 a month<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article31113942.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/1_Accrington-Stanley-v-AFC-Wimbledon-Sky-Bet-League-One.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article31113947.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_Liverpool-v-Leicester-City-EFL-Carabao-Cup-Third-Round-Football-Anfield-Liverpool-UK-27-Sep.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>&quot;They are in Europe next season and I am just focused on that season. Whatever happens, being here has been massive.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Union-Saint Gilloise topped their Europa League group last term, and made it all the way to the quarter-finals before being dumped out of the competition by ex-Liverpool star Xabi Alonso&apos;s Bayer Leverkusen. They drew the first leg 1-1, but were routinely dispatched in the second, losing 4-1.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.co.uk\/sport\/football\/ross-sykes-europa-league-liverpool-31113765\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Liverpool and Mohamed Salah will have to get past an ex-Accrington Stanley defender in their Europa League clash against Union-Saint <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Europa League ace set to face Liverpool almost quit footy \u2013 but mum changed mind - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Europa League ace set to face Liverpool almost quit footy \u2013 but mum changed mind - Sportstons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Liverpool and Mohamed Salah will have to get past an ex-Accrington Stanley defender in their Europa League clash against Union-Saint &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sportstons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-05T15:09:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dennis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Europa-League-ace-set-to-face-Liverpool-almost-quit-footy-\u2013-but-mum-changed-mind.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dennis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/\",\"name\":\"Europa League ace set to face Liverpool almost quit footy \u2013 but mum changed mind - Sportstons\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-05T15:09:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-05T15:09:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Soccer\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/category\/soccer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Europa League ace set to face Liverpool almost quit footy \u2013 but mum changed mind\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sportstons\",\"description\":\"sportstons.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"Dennis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dennis\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Europa League ace set to face Liverpool almost quit footy \u2013 but mum changed mind - Sportstons","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Europa League ace set to face Liverpool almost quit footy \u2013 but mum changed mind - Sportstons","og_description":"Liverpool and Mohamed Salah will have to get past an ex-Accrington Stanley defender in their Europa League clash against Union-Saint &hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/","og_site_name":"Sportstons","article_published_time":"2023-10-05T15:09:23+00:00","author":"Dennis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Europa-League-ace-set-to-face-Liverpool-almost-quit-footy-\u2013-but-mum-changed-mind.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dennis","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/","url":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/","name":"Europa League ace set to face Liverpool almost quit footy \u2013 but mum changed mind - Sportstons","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-05T15:09:23+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-05T15:09:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/europa-league-ace-set-to-face-liverpool-almost-quit-footy-but-mum-changed-mind\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Soccer","item":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/category\/soccer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Europa League ace set to face Liverpool almost quit footy \u2013 but mum changed mind"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/","name":"Sportstons","description":"sportstons.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"Dennis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dennis"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}