Liverpool were beaten 4-2 by AC Milan as Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo scored, while Rio Ngumoha and Florian Wirtz impressed in Hong Kong.
Liverpool 2-4 AC Milan
Pre-Season Friendly (2) | Kai Tak Stadium, Hong Kong
July 26, 2025
Goals
Leao 10′
Szoboszlai 26′ (assist: Ngumoha)
Loftus-Cheek 52′
Okafor 59′, 90+4′
Gakpo 90+3′ (assist: Konate)
Team news
While all 49,704 sets of eyes were on Wirtz inside the air-conditioned stadium, perhaps the biggest team news came in the form of Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez‘s absences, amid continued speculation over their futures.
With Joe Gomez having flown home due to an Achilles problem, Liverpool were left with two centre-backs in their squad. Slot decided to start Virgil van Dijk in the first half alongside Ryan Gravenberch, and kept Ibrahima Konate back to partner Kostas Tsimikas after the break.
Meanwhile, Andy Robertson played left-back as the versatile Luca Stephenson started on the right, with a midfield three of Tyler Morton, Harvey Elliott and Szoboszlai ahead in midfield.
Interestingly, Wirtz started as Liverpool’s centre-forward, but in reality, Elliott took up a very advanced position to create a front four, with Mo Salah and Rio Ngumoha to either side.
For the opposition, manager Massimiliano Allegri – he is back at Milan after 11 years away – started with the likes of Fikayo Tomori, Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic, who were wearing their bright yellow third strip.
First half
As we’ve come to expect from Liverpool on these pre-season tours, their fans were out in force massively outnumbering their AC Milan-supporting counterparts.
Before kick-off, Kenny Dalglish laid a wreath to remember Diogo Jota and fans held up cards to display a mosaic reading ‘DJ20′, many in the crowd holding up their own messages of support.
As the game kicked off, it quickly became apparent Elliott would be roaming in an advanced position while the Reds’ had the ball, almost playing in a front two with Wirtz.
From the very start, it had become apparent that Liverpool were vulnerable on the break, with Milan able to break dangerously on several occasions down Liverpool’s makeshift right side.
Milan struck first after Pulisic fed Leao to spring on the break and carry the ball from the halfway line into the box. Once into the area, he fired powerfully beyond Alisson from a tight angle before paying tribute to Jota in his celebration.
By the 26th minute, Liverpool were level again as Dominik Szoboszlai curled a beautiful effort with a stabbing motion into the far corner from the edge of the box, and it came after Ngumoha’s trickery allowed him to keep the ball and bring others into play.
The young winger was exciting the crowd, not for the first time this pre-season, and was denied by goalkeeper Mike Maignan just moments after Szoboszlai’s equaliser.
While taking into account the obvious caveat of this being a friendly, the 16-year-old in no way passed on creative responsibility to his more experienced peers.
Thirty-three minutes in, Slot made his first change, bringing on Trey Nyoni for Morton in midfield, but the same pattern of possession then counter-attack continued.
Seconds before the break, Van Dijk suffered a blow to the face, but thankfully the captain wasn’t badly hurt.
Half time: Liverpool 1-1 AC Milan
Slot made nine changes at half time, swapping Alisson for Giorgi Mamardashvili and introducing a new defence featuring Conor Bradley, Ibrahima Konate, Tsimikas and Milos Kerkez – Liverpool’s Greek international lined up at centre-half.
Gravenberch moved into midfield, playing with Nyoni and Curtis Jones, while Frimpong featured high on the right, with Ben Doak through the middle and Cody Gakpo on the left.
Second half
Like in the Reds’ behind-closed-doors friendly against Stoke, Frimpong tended to stay wide as Bradley made underlapping runs using his increasingly mature physique.
The Northern Ireland international’s pace wasn’t enough to keep up with Leao, though, as the winger again proved the difference maker, sprinting down the left before pulling the ball back to Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who showed real quality to calmly sidefoot home.
Despite Liverpool looking good in possession, they were all at sea in transition, Milan scoring again on the break an hour in through a great first-time finish from Noah Okafor.
As Allegri made a triple substitution, Morton made his way back onto the pitch, replacing Gravenberch as Liverpool’s most defensive midfielder.
Arguably the Reds’ biggest threat in the second period came through Frimpong. The Dutchman’s lightning pace consistently created space for crosses on the right, but too often Liverpool couldn’t make the final shot count around the box.
They did eventually get another, thanks to an excellent Gakpo header in added time, but that was quickly followed by a calamitous mix-up between Mamardashvili and Tsimikas which let Okafor in to score a fourth in the empty net.
With players out of position and the defence constantly in a state of chaos when being counter-attacked, it was quite clear Liverpool were using this as a fitness exercise more than a dress rehearsal for the new campaign.
No need to worry; it was just pre-season. However, the need for Liverpool to add a centre-back was the one very obvious takeaway from this outing.
Liverpool first-half XI: Alisson; Stephenson, Gravenberch, Van Dijk, Robertson; Morton (Nyoni 32′), Szoboszlai, Elliott; Salah, Wirtz, Ngumoha
Liverpool second-half XI: Mamardashvili; Bradley, Konate, Tsimikas, Kerkez; Gravenberch (Morton 63′), Jones, Nyoni; Frimpong, Doak, Gakpo
Subs not used: Woodman
Next match: Yokohama FM (A) – Friendly – Wednesday, July 30, 11.30am (BST)
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