Arizona Tribune - Liverpool beaten 4-2 by AC Milan in Hong Kong pre-season friendly

Liverpool, with record signing Florian Wirtz making his first start, dominated possession under the closed roof at Kai Tak Stadium but a shaky defence was punished for all four Milan goals.

Rafael Leao opened the scoring for the Italian side on 10 minutes with Dominik Szoboszlai's superb strike equalising 16 minutes later to make it 1-1 at half-time

But Loftus-Cheek, six minutes after the break, and two goals from substitute Noah Okafor, either side of Cody Gakpo's late header, gave AC Milan the victory.

Liverpool's Hong Kong fans vastly outnumbered those supporting AC Milan in the 49,704 sellout crowd.

They paid a heartfelt tribute to Diogo Jota, who passed away earlier this month in a car crash.

Flowers were laid by Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish in front of fans, who responded by holding up a mosaic spelling out "DJ20" in honour of Jota's number 20 shirt, which has been retired by the club.

Leao, too, remembered his fellow Portuguese player Jota as he offered a silent prayer and formed the number 20 with his fingers after scoring the opener.

Wirtz played 45 minutes and looked comfortable directing operations, showing hints of why Bayer Leverkusen were paid a reported British transfer record $150 million for the German playmaker.

Other new Liverpool signings left-back Milos Kerkez and right-back Jeremie Frimpong both came on as substitutes at half-time.

But Striker Hugo Ekitike, who was signed from Entracht Frankfurt for a reported $92 million, was not ready to take part, having only flown in to join his new teammates two days earlier.

Liverpool started without a recognised central striker as Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz, who have both been linked to move away from Anfield, were left out 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 home for treatment on a minor Achilles problem.

P.Smith--AT