Champions League LIVE: Fenerbahce vs Liverpool, Slavia Prague vs Arsenal & RB Leipzig vs Man Metropolis – scores, commentary & updates

Aadam Patel
Soccer Reporter in Istanbul

Picture supply, Getty Photographs

For Archie Brown, taking part in for Fenerbahce towards Liverpool within the Champions League on Wednesday will mark one other step within the justification of his personal “unorthodox” journey that started as a younger boy within the Midlands.

Brown, 24, was born in Birmingham and began his youth profession at West Brom earlier than becoming a member of Derby, the place he helped them to their solely youth top-flight title.

He scored a hat-trick in a 5-2 win over an Arsenal U18s facet that included Bukayo Saka within the ultimate between the North and South division winners.

But come 2021, the Englishman was pissed off by an absence of first-team alternatives and left to hitch Lausanne Sport in Switzerland on the age of 19.

“I’ve had fairly an unorthodox journey to get right here. I will not say that was at all times the plan,” Brown tells BBC Sport.

“It was a mix of two issues. I would seen so many gifted gamers keep on the fringes of the first-team, taking part in with the U21s after which by 22, 23, they haven’t any actual first-team expertise.

“And so they need to go down into the decrease leagues or non-league to attempt to construct their profession up from there. I did not wish to fall sufferer to that.

“Secondly, I felt it was essential to get out of my setting, to be taught a brand new language, expertise a brand new tradition, to assist me develop up and mature as an individual,” Brown provides.

The left-back – who additionally performs in central defence and midfield – joined Belgian facet Gent in 2023, earlier than shifting to Fenerbahce in a £7m deal in 2025.

The Turkish Tremendous Lig facet could also be struggling for kind – they’re sixth and 9 factors adrift of leaders Galatasaray after 10 video games – however Brown is adamant that Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool will face an almighty problem on the 48,000-capacity Sukru Saracoglu Stadium.