Thiago Alcantara didn't waste an opportunity to enjoy a bit of banter with Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah as the Reds continue their preparations for the new term.
Jurgen Klopp's side take on Crystal Palace in Singapore on Friday before finishing their pre-season campaign with friendlies against RB Leipzig, RB Salzburg and Strasbourg. They also take on Manchester City in the Community Shield at Leicester 's King Power Stadium on July 30.
Liverpool suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat to Manchester United in their first pre-season game on Tuesday, yet the mood in the camp hasn't been dampened. Thiago has been keeping spirits high by appearing to mock Salah's topless pictures on Instagram.
The Egyptian superstar often posts topless pictures of himself on social media, showing off his impressive physique. Thiago made light of the pictures by showing off his abs and pulling a funny face while using an exercise bike next to Salah.
Goalkeepers Alisson and Adrian were laughing at Thiago's antics in the background as Salah couldn't resist smiling at the Spanish midfielder. All four players were involved in Liverpool's big defeat to United and could play against Palace on Friday.
Diogo Jota is expected to miss the game after picking up another hamstring injury in training, while Alisson is also struggling with an injury. Klopp used 32 players against United in Bangkok with no outfielder playing more than 30 minutes.
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"So, Diogo is unlucky. Diogo was not involved [against United] because of an injury he got at the end of his season," explained Klopp on Thursday. "He trained yesterday fully and got injured again, so that’s really not cool but we have to wait for the results.
"He had further assessment this morning so we have to see... Ali was not 100 per cent, he finished the session earlier, was doing the warming up and felt something so now there we have to wait as well. I think pretty much all the others are fine, so that’s it."
On his selection for the game against Palace, Klopp added: "Some might get 45 minutes tomorrow, we have to see, but again it’s the period of the year where we have to be really careful with different things. These are our footballers, these are the only boys we have.
"We have a lot of them but these are the only ones we have so we have to take care and we bring them in the best possible situation."
On the importance of pre-season, Klopp said: "These trips are really a wonderful, cool thing... our fanbase here in Asia, we know how big it is and we know how how important it is to come here and we love doing it. From a training point of view, and first and foremost I am a coach, it is not my favourite thing to do because if we can go to Austria for two weeks and train twice a day, that would be better."
Klopp went on to say: "The most important thing is to come here and let the people see us, not only on television but live as well. We have today here 12,000 people for the open training session... that’s absolutely impressive! It’s really great."
