Premier League champions Liverpool were defeated 4-2 by AC Milan on Saturday in a pre-season friendly in Hong Kong by former Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
At Kai Tak Stadium, Liverpool dominated possession with record signing Florian Wirtz in his first start, but a shaky defense was punished for all four Milan goals.
Dominik Szoboszlai’s superb strike 16 minutes later made it 1-1 at half-time set the tone for the Italian side as Rafael Leao opened the scoring.
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Six minutes after the break, Loftus-Cheek and substitute Noah Okafor’s two goals, either side of Cody Gakpo’s late header, secured the victory for AC Milan.
In the 49, 704 sellout crowd, Liverpool’s Hong Kong supporters were far more popular than AC Milan’s.
Diogo Jota, who passed away earlier this month in a car crash, was paid a sincere tribute.
Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish laid flowers in front of the crowd, who responded by displaying a mosaic with the word “DJ20” in honor of Jota’s retired number 20 shirt.
Leao, who also scored the opener, remembered Jota, who was also a Portuguese player, who prayed quietly and arranged the number 20 with his fingers.
Wirtz’ 45-minute performance, which hints at why Bayer Leverkusen reportedly paid a reported $150 million for the German playmaker, made him appear comfortable in charge of the company’s operations.
At half-time, left-back Milos Kerkez and right-back Jeremie Frimpong, two other recent signings from Liverpool, both made the start-up lineup.
Hugo Ekitike, who had only flown in two days prior to joining his new teammates, was not ready to participate. He had already been signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for a reportedly $92 million.
Due to the absence of Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz from the matchday squad, Liverpool did not have a recognized central striker.
On Wednesday, Liverpool will travel to Japan to face the Yokohama F-Marinos.
Source: Channels TV
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