AC Milan Beat Liverpool 4-2 in Hong Kong Pre-season Friendly

Ruben Loftus-Cheek found the net as AC Milan secured a 4-2 win over Premier League champions Liverpool in a pre-season encounter at a sold-out Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong on Saturday.

Liverpool, handing a first start to £150 million signing Florian Wirtz, dominated possession but were undone by defensive lapses that led to all four Milan goals.

The Italian side struck first through Rafael Leao in the 10th minute, but Dominik Szoboszlai responded with a stunning equaliser 16 minutes later to send the teams into the break level at 1-1.

Loftus-Cheek restored Milan’s lead shortly after the restart, and substitute Noah Okafor added two more, either side of a late header from Cody Gakpo, to wrap up the victory for the Serie A giants.

The vast majority of the 49,704-strong crowd were Liverpool fans, who paid an emotional tribute to Diogo Jota, the Portuguese forward who tragically died in a car accident earlier this month. Club legend Kenny Dalglish laid flowers on behalf of the team, and fans unveiled a mosaic reading “DJ20” – a nod to Jota’s shirt number, which Liverpool have now retired.

Leao also honoured his compatriot after scoring, silently praying before forming the number 20 with his fingers in tribute.

Wirtz, who joined from Bayer Leverkusen for a record fee, showed composure and creativity in his 45-minute debut, offering glimpses of his potential. Fellow newcomers Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong featured after the break, while striker Hugo Ekitike, a $92 million arrival from Eintracht Frankfurt, was unavailable, having just joined up with the squad.

There was no place in the squad for Darwin Nunez or Luis Diaz, both of whom continue to be the subject of transfer speculation.

Liverpool now head to Japan, where they will take on Yokohama F-Marinos on Wednesday. The club also confirmed that defender Joe Gomez has returned to England to undergo treatment for a minor Achilles injury.