Darwin Nunez made his first Liverpool start but could not prevent his side from losing for the second time this pre-season as they lost 1-0 to Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg.
In Liverpool’s last pre-season friendly before Saturday’s Community Shield against Manchester City, Jurgen Klopp put out a second-string side in Austria but started marquee signing Nunez fresh off his four goals against RB Leipzig last week.
The Uruguay forward struck the crossbar in a frustrating first half for the Reds, which saw them fall behind on the counter-attack courtesy of another familiar name in the transfer window.
Benjamin Sesko, linked to Manchester United and Newcastle in the UK media, swept past Adrian on the half-hour mark after superbly bursting past Ibrahima Konate to start the attack off.
Nunez was taken off at half-time and Liverpool had a near-full strength side on 60 minutes and created far more chances.
The best fell to Luis Diaz just minutes after coming on, with the Colombia international playing a one-two with Jordan Henderson before forcing Salzburg goalkeeper Nico Mantl into a good save.
Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah forced Mantl into a good save, before Diaz had a run and finish disallowed for offside.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson and Andy Robertson all had late efforts but the Austrian side held on for the victory.
Klopp: Darwin needs more support | ‘It didn’t feel like a friendly’
Klopp lamented the way his Liverpool side started Wednesday night’s friendly and called on his players to get close to record signing Nunez in order to be more threatening up front.
“First half, we made too many mistakes which they could use,” Klopp said after the game. “We had good moments in the game as well, we could have scored four, five goals at least. We didn’t do that.
“Darwin was alone too much, everybody dropped off and everyone was then too wide and Darwin was alone in the box. He had his chances but he needs more support around him to keep other players busy so they don’t focus on him. It doesn’t feel great but we take it and go from here.”
Klopp admitted the match did not feel like a friendly due to the emotion Salzburg put in the game – and while some of the Austrian side’s challenges were too harsh at times, he had full respect for the opposition.
“In the first half, we were too open, too wide and weren’t connected enough. When we lost the ball, it was like a motorway with their speed – especially when you lose simple passes where nobody can react.
“The last half an hour was like a thunderstorm. We were like a truck but we didn’t finish them off. It will be fine. We had to make a lot of changes but I take that.
“It didn’t feel like a friendly, for Salzburg and us as well. Salzburg had these rough challenges but they did really well. All respect to them, sometimes I didn’t like their challenges but nothing happened there I think.”
Source: SkySports