Friendlies review: Liverpool hit four again, Man City taste defeat

Liverpool continued their devastating attacking form in pre-season with a 4-0 win over Leicester City in Singapore.

The Reds raced into a 3-0 lead at half-time thanks to goals in the space of eight minutes from Darwin Nunez, his fourth in pre-season, Diogo Jota and academy product Bobby Clark.

Pick Nunez in your 2023/24 FPL squad

Jurgen Klopp named a strong starting XI featuring Mohamed Salah, Alexis Mac Allister, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Dominik Szoboszlai was a half-time substitute after recovering from a minor ankle injury.

Seventeen-year-old Ben Doak scored his first Liverpool goal to round off the scoring.

Liverpool have now scored four goals in each of their three pre-season matches but perhaps what will please Klopp most is their first clean sheet, having conceded six goals in two matches prior to this one.

Their defence will be put to the test, though, in their next friendly, which is against Bayern Munich on Wednesday 2 August, 11 days before their 2023/24 Premier League opener against Chelsea. 

See: Liverpool match report and line-up

Man City taste first pre-season defeat

Manchester City suffered a setback to their 2023/24 preparations as they fell to a first defeat of pre-season, losing 2-1 to Atletico Madrid in South Korea.

Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva all started, with Ruben Dias playing the entire contest.

Last season's Treble winners went 2-0 down in the second half, after goals from former Manchester United forward Memphis Depay and Yannick Carrasco.

Pep Guardiola's side did pull one back late on through Dias but were unable to complete the comeback as their pre-season record goes to two wins and one loss.

See: All clubs' pre-season fixtures and results

Man City's next match is the FA Community Shield against Arsenal on Sunday 6 August, five days before their Premier League opener against Vincent Kompany's Burnley.

See: Man City's report and line-up