Manchester United vs Liverpool LIVE: Pre-season friendly result, final score and reaction
All the action as the two Premier League rivals meet in Bangkok
Manchester United beat Liverpool 4-0 in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday in Bangkok. If the low points for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick last season may have come in harrowing hammerings against Liverpool, Erik ten Hag at least marked a break with the recent past on his bow as Manchester United manager.
Solskjaer lost 5-0 and Rangnick 4-0 and, in the context of that, United could savour a scoreline that brought a 4-0 win, even if a pre-season friendly scarcely carries the same weight. Liverpool finished 34 points ahead of United last season and, in a game when Jurgen Klopp fielded 32 players and Ten Hag’s first-half side a plausible starting 11 for the opening day featured clubs at different stages of planning.
Nevertheless, United’s first look at Ten Hag’s ideas offered some encouragement. Follow all the match reaction to Liverpool vs Manchester United below:
GOAL! 11’ - Man United 1-0 Liverpool
United lead! A cross is only half-cleared by Mabaya after Phillips misses his header, it falls to the feet of Sancho and he rattles it bottom corner past Alisson.
8’ - Man United 0-0 Liverpool
Morton to the rescue again as United look to go two-on-one. Fred unable to make the pass count this time.
The Liverpool fans are making themselves heard but there looks a decent split in terms of both fanbases.
Diaz now runs at Dalot, beats him and curls one toward the far corner - palmed away by De Gea, who has been busy.
4’ - Man United 0-0 Liverpool
Mabaya surges past Shaw and delivers a low cross, which De Gea has to react well to clear with his feet. Carvalho was lurking.
At the other end, Sancho jinks inside his man and looks to pull back a dangerous ball toward Martial and Rashford, but Tyler Morton reacts well to get a challenge in and clear.
1’ - Man United 0-0 Liverpool
Early possession for Liverpool as they get the midfielders involved. Fred fouls Elliott as he looks to burst down the right flank. 4-2-3-1 for United, 4-3-3 for the Reds.
Man United 0-0 Liverpool
The players take the knee ahead of kick-off - and then we are underway! United in their new home shirt, Liverpool in their new away one, unveiled only this morning.
Sadio Mane favourite to beat Mohamed Salah to African Footballer of the Year award
Sadio Mane heads a list of 10 nominees for the African Footballer of the Year award, to be handed out later this month for the first time in three years, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced on Monday.
Mane, who won the last award in 2019, will be favoured to win again after a season in which he helped Senegal to their first Africa Cup of Nations title plus qualification to the World Cup in Qatar.
He also had cup success with Liverpool at club level but has since moved to Bayern Munich.
His former team mates Naby Keita and Mohamed Salah are also among the 10 nominees, along with Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez.
Sadio Mane favourite to beat Mohamed Salah to African Footballer of the Year award
Mane helped Senegal win their first Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year
Jurgen Klopp closes door on adding to Liverpool’s midfield
Jurgen Klopp is surveying his options in midfield this season. They don’t include Jude Bellingham or the Golden Cow, but he is content nonetheless. If the Borussia Dortmund teenager represents the dream signing for many a Liverpool supporter, the other is a construct of Klopp’s imagination, a seemingly mythical creature able to deliver anything and everything.
The Golden Cow, a product of Klopp’s ability to conjure a memorable phrase, may sound more like a takeaway, but also serves as shorthand for the impossibility of pleasing everyone; especially in the transfer market.
The Liverpool manager possesses the ability to connect with people, to carry them with him and influence the wider world. Recruitment can be a rare ability where he is out of step with popular opinion. It feels as if the majority of the Liverpool fanbase believe they require another midfielder. Klopp does not.
Rich Jolly has the story:
Jurgen Klopp closes door on adding to Liverpool’s midfield
Jude Bellingham has been touted as a target for the Reds but appears unlikely to move this summer
Closing in on kick-off in Bangkok
Just over half an hour until kick-off and it’s filling up inside the stadium. Expect lots of noise, judging by the welcomes the teams received! Some very questionable scarves on show, mind.
United vs Liverpool: Last season
Erik ten Hag’s big task to improve Man United is made apparent by the meetings between these old rivals during the 2021/22 season.
Liverpool won both games by an aggregate score of 9-0: Five going in at Old Trafford and four more at Anfield later in the season.
Keita and Jota got the party started early in that first match, before Salah took over with a hat-trick - it was four by half-time, five soon after and then Pogba was sent-off for United.
At Anfield, Luis Diaz was the first beneficiary as United were again ripped apart early, with Salah adding the next. After the restart, Mane and Salah again added the gloss.
Klopp speaks ahead of United clash
Jurgen Klopp has delved into his team selection plans for Liverpool’s first friendly of the summer.
“The plan for United is to use all of our players, except a couple maybe. We will see, but we know one of them is Diogo [Jota] because of a little issue he has from earlier in the summer,” he said.
“It’s nothing serious but we decided not to take the risk with him for this game, especially as it’s only our first game of the pre-season.
“Pretty much all of the rest of the boys will all get some minutes. We have brought a big squad here, some young boys and the more senior guys, and we give them all some time.
“The international boys only started back with us on Monday but, as you can imagine, they have come back in outstanding shape, which is not a surprise, so that means they will get some time tonight. We will make plenty of changes too, of course, throughout the game. We will need to.
“It means Darwin [Nunez] will be in the squad and Fabio [Carvalho] will play for us for the first time and I’m sure our supporters will be pleased about that.
“But the game is an important one in our preparations, so we will give it a try and any game against United is always a good one.”
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