Red Bull Salzburg 1-0 Liverpool: Reds end Austria training camp with defeat
Liverpool completed their preparation for Saturday’s Community Shield with a frustrating 1-0 defeat at the hands of Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday night.
Jurgen Klopp opted to start the match in Austria with a second-string side and was made to pay when Benjamin Sesko cut through the defence to score a well-taken goal midway through the first half after Fernando had already missed a sitter. The 19-year-old Slovenian striker has been linked with Manchester United recently and his clinical finish showed why.
Darwin Nunez had scored four times in the Reds’ 5-0 win over RB Leipzig last week, but would not add to his pre-season goal tally. Liverpool’s summer signing struck the bar and spurned several openings before being substituted at half-time.
Klopp brought on the big guns after 60 minutes to end the match with his strongest XI, but the substitutions could not change the result. Luis Diaz had a goal correctly ruled out for offside, while Trent Alexander-Arnold saw a stinging long-range effort palmed away by Nico Mantl.
Klopp was incensed in injury-time when his side were denied a penalty following a heavy challenge on Diaz in the box and the incident summed up the night for Liverpool. With the Austria leg of their pre-season completed, they will now fly back to England to take on Manchester City in the Community Shield at Leicester’s King Power Stadium on Saturday.
Read how the match panned out below.