WIGAN, Sporting Alert — Liverpool and Wigan Athletic played to a 1-1 draw at the DW Stadium in the second game of the 2017 pre-season fixtures on Friday.
The game saw Mohamed Salah making a scoring debut for Liverpool, while Dejan Lovren, who featured in his first game of the friendly schedule, hit the post in the second half.
Wigan took the lead in the 21st minute when attacker Alex Gilbey fired low into the bottom corner of the goal past Simon Mignolet in the Reds goal.
Liverpool squandered a glorious opportunity to level things in the 37th minute when Firmino, one-on-one with Wigan goalkeeper Christian Walton, opts to make a pass to Adam Lallana instead of shooting from close range.
Quick passing between Salah and Lallana opened up the perfect chance for the Jurgen Klopp’s men to grab the equalizer but the Brazilian decided to make a pass, which went astray.
The English Premier League side finally got the tying goal shortly before halftime when Salah easily slotted home from a close range, following a pass from Firmino.
Both teams made adjustments in the second half but couldn’t find a breakthrough, while defender Lovren hit the post in the 77th minute.
Despite failing to take all their chances, Klopp was happy with the team’s effort and thankful for another injury-free outing.
“Another game, no injuries, good,” the German boss said.
Klopp said about debutant Salah: “He had two days with us, then he had to go to Paris, get the papers, but now he’s here and we thought ‘let’s play him’.
Nice moves, near misses and Salah's debut strike. ⚽
🎥 Wigan v #LFC in 90 seconds: https://t.co/jLXdDM1IME pic.twitter.com/ATX532IgfV
— LFCTV (@LFCTV) July 14, 2017
Exciting. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/kanL2qa5wN
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 14, 2017
“He’s really used to a completely different way of defending, but the first situation, nice sprint.
“And the goal was maybe the easiest situation in the game, but they played a few wonderful pieces of football: Roberto, Phil, Adam, Gini in the No.6 position was good.
“So it was OK, just not where they can be. It’s just a sign, but that’s important.”
Liverpool will return to action again on Wednesday when they Crystal Palace in the Premier League Asia Trophy in Hong Kong.
⚽ The story of the match as Salah strikes: https://t.co/on2huIuGpK pic.twitter.com/EcedVxAk36
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 14, 2017
“The Premier League gave us a nice challenge that we can only involve 25 players, so if you take three goalkeepers then you can only have 22 [outfielders] in the squad for this tournament,” the boss said.
“That’s quite difficult. We should’ve given the list on July 8 but I couldn’t because I didn’t know who was injured and who was not when we fly, so tonight I’ll make the decision.
“Maybe the squad will need to be different, because Clyney has a little issue [as does] Alberto Moreno, so we have to try to bring enough players so we can play two games in difficult circumstances, that’s the plan.
“I have no idea at the moment, but in a few moments I will know.”
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