English champions humbled by AC Milan in Hong Kong

The Premier League champion came to Hong Kong to meet their Asia fans and brought some of its new signings. Liverpool has done brilliantly in the transfer window so far and it seems that the best it yet to come (Alexander Isak?).

But, with current forces, the Reds lost easily to AC Milan 4-2 in a friendly game, with all three goals coming after counter attacks, which surely won’t satisfy coach Arne Slot. The Duch boss started the game with Florian Wirtz and later introduced all other acquisitions apart from Hugo Ekitike, but he still ended the game with four goals in his net. Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz were both omitted due to their transfer rumors while various tributes were in place for Diogo Jota, from an applause in the 20th minute of the game, to the tributes from the AC Milan players.

The Scousers started lively and with dominance in midfield but after only 10 minutes, it was 1-0 for AC Milan. Liverpool lost the ball on the edge of the Milan penalty area and Pulisic immediately released Leao. The Portuguese winger came from the left while Van Dijk was too slow and released a powerful and precise shot for 1-0. Just five minutes later Liverpool was on the brink of a goal but Mohamed Salah tried to be unselfish and instead of shooting decided to assist to Florian Wirtz. The Milan defense cut off that pass and the chance was wasted. But even better goal than Leao’s was about to come. Teenager Ngumoha tried to take on Tomori, but eventually laid the ball off to Szoboszlai who was unmarked and curled a wonderful effort into the top corner for 1-1 in the 26th minute. Milan used the counter attacks to get two more chances by the end of the half, but Pulišić’s and Leao’s shot was saved by Allison.

Second half started with a lot of substitutions but AC Milan again scored after a counter attack. Again, it was Leao who was on top of the action before passing the ball to the surging Loftus-Cheek, who passed the newcomer Kerkez and scored for another lead. It became a bit more embarrassing when a third goal came in the 60th minute after another counter attack. Saelemakers was alone as a ghost on the right and crossed the ball to Okafor who finishes excellently. Frimpong woke Liverpool supporters with a fantastic shot minutes later, but Milan’s reserve keeper was on spot and saved the ball. And that was basically it from both clubs. For the next half and hour with didn’t see much from both clubs until Cody Gakpo and Noah Okafor both scored a garbage-time goals to make it final 4-2.