European Champions Liverpool Fall To Sevilla In Pre-Season Friendly
22nd July 2019
Players were granted water breaks in the hot, humid conditions, and even the pitch created on the baseball diamond received extra water during the match
- Alejandro Pozo delivered the late dagger in 10-man Sevilla's 2-1 friendly win over Liverpool in Boston Sunday
- Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was furious at Joris Gagnon's outrageous kick at an on-rushing Larouci in the 76th minute
- Even with the La Liga outfit reduced to 10 men, Liverpool were unable find a way ahead, and Pozo sealed it in the 90th minute as he smoothly collected a pass from Munir El Haddadi
NEW YORK, United States- Alejandro Pozo delivered the late dagger in 10-man Sevilla's 2-1
friendly win over Liverpool in Boston Sunday, a defeat made worse for the
European champions when they saw Yasser Larouci stretchered off.
Liverpool manager
Jurgen Klopp was furious at Joris Gagnon's outrageous kick at an on-rushing
Larouci in the 76th minute. Gnagnon was shown a straight red card after
sweeping one of the Frenchman's legs out from underneath him, toppling him to
the pitch where his head bounced hard on the ground.
"(It's) much
too early in the season to create headlines with saying the things I think
about the situation," Klopp said at his post-match press conference, where
he added that it appeared that the 18-year-old Larouci was "lucky" in
terms of avoiding serious injury.
"But of course,
how it always is with these things we have to wait a little bit. I don’t know
100 percent. It looks like he was lucky but I only spoke quickly to the Doc and
that's what he said, but we have to see."
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Even with the La
Liga outfit reduced to 10 men, Liverpool were unable find a way ahead, and Pozo
sealed it in the 90th minute as he smoothly collected a pass from Munir El
Haddadi, rounded Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet and knocked the winner into an
unguarded net.
Sevilla had enjoyed
by far the majority of scoring chances on a sweltering evening at Fenway Park
-- home of the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. Both Liverpool and the Red
Sox are owned by groups led by John W. Henry.
Players were granted
water breaks in the hot, humid conditions, and even the pitch created on the
baseball diamond received extra water during the match.
The pro-Liverpool crowd
weren't treated to many of the club's stars as Brazilian internationals Roberto
Firmino and Alisson were both absent for the Reds following their Copa America
campaign along with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, both missing due to the
African Cup of Nations.
As in a 3-2 defeat
to Borussia Dortmund on Friday in Indiana, there was some shaky defending from
Liverpool.
Nolito's powerful
shot in the 37th minute past Liverpool starting goalkeeper Andy Lonergan -- who
was at Middlesbrough last season -- was Sevilla's reward after a half-hour of
pressure.
It needed a
sprawling save from Lonergan in the 13th minute to deny Luuk de Jong after
Liverpool lost possession in their own territory and de Jong was just wide with
a header in the 23rd.
- 'Not too cool' -
Liverpool's
equalizer came off a scrappy set piece as Trent Alexander-Arnold's corner was
kept alive by Nat Phillips, the ball falling to an unmarked Divock Origi who
swept in from close range in the 44th.
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Both teams made
wholesale changes at halftime, but even a match that was just one more step in
both team's pre-season preparations there was nothing laid back about Sevilla.
A foul was called on
Ever Banega for a hard tackle in the 12th minute and when he slammed the ball
to the ground in protest he was shown a yellow card.
Liverpool midfielder
Harry Wilson took a smack to the face just before halftime -- an infraction
that paled in comparison to that of Gnagnon -- who was arguing with the referee
as Larouci received treatment.
"Harry got a
knock on his jaw and a finger in his eye, so not too cool," Klopp said.
"He should be OK as well but couldn’t carry on as well."