Former Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek scored as Premier League champions Liverpool had been overwhelmed 4-2 by AC Milan on Saturday in a pre-season pleasant in Hong Kong.
Liverpool, with file signing Florian Wirtz making his first begin, dominated possession below the closed roof at Kai Tak Stadium however a shaky defence was punished for all 4 Milan objectives.
Rafael Leao opened the scoring for the Italian aspect on 10 minutes with Dominik Szoboszlai’s very good strike equalising 16 minutes later to make it 1-1 at half-time
However Loftus-Cheek, six minutes after the break, and two objectives from substitute Noah Okafor, both aspect of Cody Gakpo’s late header, gave AC Milan the victory.
Liverpool’s Hong Kong followers vastly outnumbered these supporting AC Milan within the 49,704 sellout crowd.
They paid a heartfelt tribute to Diogo Jota, who handed away earlier this month in a automobile crash.
Flowers had been laid by Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish in entrance of followers, who responded by holding up a mosaic spelling out “DJ20” in honour of Jota’s quantity 20 shirt, which has been retired by the membership.
Leao, too, remembered his fellow Portuguese participant Jota as he supplied a silent prayer and shaped the quantity 20 together with his fingers after scoring the opener.
Wirtz performed 45 minutes and regarded comfy directing operations, exhibiting hints of why Bayer Leverkusen had been paid a reported British switch file $150 million for the German playmaker.
Different new Liverpool signings left-back Milos Kerkez and right-back Jeremie Frimpong each got here on as substitutes at half-time.
However Striker Hugo Ekitike, who was signed from Entracht Frankfurt for a reported $92 million, was not prepared to participate, having solely flown in to affix his new teammates two days earlier.
Liverpool began with out a recognised central striker as Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz, who’ve each been linked to maneuver away from Anfield, had been omitted of the matchday squad.
Liverpool will now fly to Japan to face Yokohama F-Marinos on Wednesday.
Liverpool revealed earlier that full-back Joe Gomez had flown house for remedy on a minor Achilles drawback.
