Florian Wirtz will make Liverpool tick, the 16-year-old prodigy ready for the first team – and the one area Arne Slot STILL needs to strengthen: FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED from the Reds’ 2-4 defeat by AC Milan
Liverpool fell to defeat in the first match of their pre-season tour of Asia after old foes AC Milan exploited poor defending to beat the Premier League champions 4-2.
The Reds fell behind early to a Rafael Leao strike before Dominik Szoboszlai equalised.
Noah Okafor scored two after the break and Ruben Loftus-Cheek was also on target for the Italians, while Cody Gakpo scored a consolation goal for Liverpool.
Arne Slot’s men now jet on to Tokyo for the second leg of their tour and the boss has plenty to ponder – with both positives and worrying signs to come out of this game.
Mail Sport‘s Lewis Steele was in Hong Kong and here are his five key takeaways…
Liverpool lost 4-2 against AC Milan in their first match of their pre-season tour of Asia
There were numerous positives for Arne Slot to take, including Florian Wirtz’s display
Dominik Szoboszlai equalised in the first half before Noak Okafor struck twice after the break
Centre back(s) needed at Liverpool
Joe Gomez is now back in England after flying home from Liverpool’s tour of Asia on Friday night, reporting pain in his Achilles.
It was decided that instead of him staying out here for the second leg of the tour in Japan, it would be best for him to travel back to the north west to undergo recovery work.
The injury has only been mooted as minor and he is expected back soon – but it is still a worry given the long-serving defender played just 11 minutes in 2025 with two lengthy lay-offs last season.
With Jarell Quansah signing for Bayer Leverkusen for £35million earlier this transfer window, that leaves just three senior centre backs – and one is already on the treatment table.
Ryan Gravenberch and Kostas Tsimikas, who made a late mistake for Milan’s fourth, were both trialled at the heart of defence in this game but neither of them seem like long-term options. Yes, Gravenberch has played there before and has done well, but playing him in defence means you miss his mercurial midfield displays.
So, it feels like despite spending £295million and even if Alexander Isak was to make a sensational switch to the club, they are still at least one defender light.
And that’s not to mention the fact Real Madrid are courting Konate, whose contract is up next summer!
Ryan Gravenberch was trialled at centre back but does not appear a long-term option there
Real Madrid are courting Ibrahima Konate, whose contract is up next summer
Defence looks uncharacteristically open
There were some off-brand mistakes from Virgil van Dijk in the first half, all of which can be excused by the fact that it is pre-season.
AC Milan’s first goal came from makeshift defender Gravenberch stepping too far up and being caught out by diving into a challenge. Then Van Dijk seemed to invite Leao to shoot and he duly obliged, though the Portugal winger still had a lot of work to do.
In the second half, when Konate and Tsimikas were the defenders, Liverpool conceded two preventable goals on the counter-attack. One from the left, one the right, they were similar in that the Reds press was evaded and then pacy wingers exploited mass space in behind.
Full backs Conor Bradley and Milos Kerkez were perhaps guilty of being on their toes as Leao and Alexis Sealemaekers darted past them and Milan ended up scoring.
Again, not a huge worry – but work to be done by Slot on the training ground maybe.
There were some off-brand mistakes from Virgil van Dijk during the first half
Milos Kerkez, a summer arrival from Bournemouth, was caught a little on his toes
Wirtz will make the team tick
The 50,000 locals who packed out the Kai Tak Stadium can say they were the first Liverpool fans to see him don the famous red jersey in a game.
He played in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Stoke last week but this was his first real outing – and wow, what a player.
Liverpool have paid £116m for the privilege of him being their man but he looks like the sort of star who could transform their whole team.
The German had some spellbinding moments here and could have registered a couple of assists if his team-mates’ finishing was better.
His first touch was breathtakingly good and, worrying for defenders of Premier League rivals, his link-up with Mohamed Salah was on point. The pair seemed to be on the right wavelength and, given this is only pre-season, that is pleasing for the coaching staff to see.
Wirtz had some spellbinding moments and could even have notched a couple of assists
His first touch was breathtakingly good and he linked up superbly with Mohamed Salah
How did young players fare?
Rio Ngumoha is often cited as the best star in Liverpool’s academy and labelled as a big prospect for the future. The first part of that sentence is correct but the ending is not: he is not one for the future, he is one for now.
The 16-year-old caused all sorts of problems for AC Milan’s defenders in the 45 minutes he played, with some mazy runs and eye-catching creative play.
Signed from Chelsea a year ago, the kid who wears just ‘Rio’ on the back of his shirt was tipped for big things and Liverpool believed they had signed a golden gem. Even though he is still 16, it is not a huge surprise to see him progressing as he is in the first team ranks.
Ngumoha was caught in possession cheaply in one of his first touches but settled after that.
One thing he must work on in the coming years is to know when to play the simple pass and when to embark on one of his dribbles. Sometimes, it feels like he is trying to do too much – but fair play to him, he has a lot in his locker so why not try it?
The same, perhaps, can be said about 18-year-old Trey Nyoni, another poached from a rival academy in his mid-teens. Midfielder Nyoni joined from Leicester in 2023 and is thriving in the big-boy picture now, with six first-team appearances to his name.
Slot rates Nyoni highly and he had some eye-catching moments here, the most notable being when he danced through the Milan defence but could not find the finish. If he had that chance back, the teenager knows he should have taken on the shot earlier.
Young prodigy Rio Ngumoha caused problems for Milan in the 45 minutes he played
Trey Nyoni, 18, is rated highly by Slot and also enjoyed some eye-catching moments
Is it ‘adios’ to two South American stars?
Two men were conspicuous by their absence.
Neither Luis Diaz nor Darwin Nunez were in the 22-man matchday squad for Liverpool as speculation continues about their future at the club.
Both are expected to leave this summer despite being on the Asia tour, with Bayern Munich readying a second bid for Diaz after a £58m was turned down. The Colombian is keen to pursue his options elsewhere.
Nunez, likewise, has long been expected to depart the club despite clubs being unwilling to cough up the price Liverpool are asking for, which is around £70m.
Though Saudi Arabian outfits are expected to return to the table for him, with Napoli previously in talks.
The pair were at the stadium but the fact they were not playing was suspicious, and may point to their exits sooner rather than later.
Alexis Mac Allister, meanwhile, is back in full training after nursing a long-term problem that he played through last season, while Wataru Endo is also likely to feature in his homeland of Japan after being out with illness.
