Liverpool’s Asia tour suffered a setback on Saturday night after AC Milan handed Arne Slot’s men a 4–2 defeat at Kai Tak Stadium.
Full-time in Hong Kong. pic.twitter.com/oMHL63CcPL
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 26, 2025
Liverpool were beaten 4–2 by AC Milan in a thrilling pre-season friendly at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Stadium on Saturday.
The Reds fell behind early to a Rafael Leao goal but levelled before half-time through a superb curled strike by Dominik Szoboszlai. Milan, however, took control in the second half with quickfire goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Noah Okafor within seven minutes.
Although Cody Gakpo gave Liverpool a glimmer of hope with a stoppage-time header, a defensive blunder moments later allowed Okafor to seal his brace and the win for Milan.
Manager Arne Slot rotated his squad heavily, giving Alisson Becker his first start of pre-season and fielding two separate teams for each half. Rio Ngumoha impressed in the opening 45 minutes, while Jeremie Frimpong added spark late on.
The match was played before a record crowd, who paid tribute to Diogo Jota and Andre Silva pre-kick-off with a mosaic and black armbands.
Liverpool now travel to Japan to face Yokohama F. Marinos on Wednesday in the next leg of their Asia tour.
“The minimum age for admission into JSS1 remains 10 years,” a Federal Ministry spokesperson said. “Any suggestion to the contrary is misleading.”