AC Milan used their counter-attacking threat to undo Liverpool as they earned a 4-2 friendly win in Hong Kong on Saturday.
AC Milan used their counter-attacking threat to undo Liverpool as they earned a 4-2 friendly win in Hong Kong on Saturday.
Milan started brightly, and Rafael Leao found the breakthrough on the counter 12 minutes in, shifting it past Virgil van Dijk before firing past Alisson.
Liverpool grew into the game and equalised in the 26th minute as Rio Ngumoha teed up Dominik Szoboszlai on the corner of the box to bend his shot into the top corner.
However, Milan struck a double blow in the first 15 minutes of the second half. Ruben Loftus-Cheek sold Milos Kerkez a dummy in the box before coolly slotting into the bottom corner past Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Noah Okafor then added Milan's third in the 59th minute from another lightning break. Alexis Saelemaekers played it low to the Switzerland international, who calmly finished.
Ryan Gravenberch, the only Liverpool player not to be substituted at half-time, came within inches of pulling one back as he smacked the woodwork with a long-range strike moments later.
Cody Gakpo, who had seen a tight-angled effort tipped over, sent a looping header over Pietro Terracciano to make it 3-2 in stoppage time, but instead of getting an equaliser, Liverpool ended on a disappointing note.
Kostas Tsimikas tried to play the ball back to Mamardashvili, who was out of his box, and only succeeded in teeing up Okafor, who raced past the goalkeeper to knock a tap-in into the empty net.
Data Debrief: Liverpool's attack falters
New signing Hugo Ekitike was not in Liverpool's squad, and they were also missing Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz, who have both been linked with moves away.
Liverpool were not short of chances, having 18 attempts, seven of which were on target, though they only generated 1.17 expected goals (xG).
They struggled against Milan's counter-attack, though they were also down a defender after Joe Gomez was forced to fly home injured.
Milan had 10 shots and eight on target, from which they scored four. They also bettered the Reds' xG, accumulating 2.12.