Fans were left bemused and amused when Daniel Sturridge was spotted taking a note from the Liverpool bench and carrying it onto the pitch with him during Wednesday night's EFL Cup semi-final first leg against Southampton.

With the Reds trailing by 1-0 and 20 minutes left on the clock at St Mary's, Sturridge received written-down instructions from manager Jurgen Klopp.

The England international looked slightly baffled as he ran back into the pitch with the piece of paper in hand.

The 27-year-old tried to make sense of it before showing it to Adam Lallana, who did not take much notice.

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Sturridge then aimed the note in Emre Can's direction before eventually throwing it to the side of the pitch.

Evidently the instructions were not hugely helpful as Liverpool ended the game with a 1-0 defeat, but they can try to overturn the deficit when they welcome Southampton to Anfield for the second leg in two weeks' time.

On Twitter, plenty of fans criticised Liverpool's performance, but others saw the lighter side by drawing on the bizarre note incident.

Some even guessed what could have been written on the paper...

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