Liverpool lost a closed friendly match at their own training ground on Saturday. Preston North End, number ten of the past Championship season, proved too strong with 0-1. Among others Sepp van den Berg, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah were in action.

Salah was captain of the youth team, which did not yet include Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo, given their recent participation in the European Championship with the Dutch national team. Nevertheless, Slot had the necessary players from the first team at his disposal and ultimately let 25 players participate in the match.

The match served as a warm-up before Slot's selection flies to the United States on Tuesday for the rest of the preparation. There they will practice against Real Betis, Arsenal and Manchester United in succession.

Arne Slot speaks after the Reds' first run out of pre-season, facing Preston North End this afternoon ??? Watch the full interview on LFCTV GO – the home of pre-season coverage this summer. Subscribe now and get one month free?

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 19, 2024

Szoboszlai, who returned to training earlier this week after his European Championship participation with Hungary, played the first 33 minutes. Scot Andy Robertson, who was also eliminated in the group stage of the European Championship and returned to training in Liverpool this week, did not play any minutes.

Van den Berg formed the heart of the defense with Jarell Quansah. The Dutchman has a desire to leave due to a lack of perspective at Anfield, but is still a Liverpool player.

The Reds created the necessary chances, but Ben Doak, Salah, Harvey Elliott and Conor Bradley, among others, did not have their sights set. The biggest chance came from Elliott, who was unable to convert a sharp cross from Salah into an assist.

After half an hour, the only goal of the match was scored. Robbie Brady shot beautifully from a distance over the helpless goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros. Liverpool entered the second half with a completely different team than before half-time. The team, which consisted almost entirely of youth players, was unable to make up the deficit.

Liverpool first half line-up: Jaros; Bradley, Van den Berg, Quansah, Tsimikas; Jones, Elliott, Szoboszlai (Endo, 33); Doak, Salah, Carvalho.

Liverpool second half line-up: Davies; Stephenson, Nallo, Phillips, Chambers; (Beck, 75), Endo (Nyoni, 75), Bajcetic, Morton; McConnell, Koumas (Blair, 75), Gordon.

More sports news