Liverpool got their pre-season campaign underway with a 4-2 win away to Bundesliga 2 side Karlsruher.
In a packed stadium at the BBBild Wildpark, Jurgen Klopp’s side played two entirely different XIs in the first and second halves, and the first got off to a superb start as Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez combined for the opening goal, with Nunez tucking past the goalkeeper less than three minutes into the match.
Liverpool, who handed debuts to new signings Dominik Szoboszlai (from the start) and Alexis Mac Allister (off the bench), were then pegged back when ex-Germany midfielder Lars Stindl levelled the scores with a stunning volley, which came from a corner and crashed off the crossbar and in.
After a new lineup came out for the second half, Liverpool struggled to settle and Karlsruher took the lead when Stindl played a smart pass and found right-back Sebastian Jung, who hammered the ball past Liverpool goalkeeper VítÄzslav Jaroš to put the hosts into an unlikely lead.
Mac Allister, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota galvanised the youngsters around them midway through the second half as Liverpool pushed hard for an equaliser.
They found it when Joe Gomez’s cross into the box was headed down by Jota to Gakpo, who swivelled and slammed home for 2-2.
In the second minute of stoppage time, Jota received the ball from Gakpo and weaved his way through the Karlsruher defence before knocking the ball coolly into the net. Within a minute he had scored again — Mac Allister winning the ball, playing him in, and Jota scoring again with a slotted finish.
Klopp’s side face another German outfit in Greuther Furth on Monday, before completing their pre-season campaign with matches against Leicester City, Bayern Munich and finally Darmstadt.
