Liverpool welcomed Strasbourg to Anfield for their final pre-season game of the season after impressing in the Community Shield only 24 hours beforehand beating Manchester City 3-1 with goals from Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and new man Darwin Nunez.
None of that trio were involved against the French side though with Jurgen Klopp opting for a youthful side sprinkled with the experience of James Milner, Joe Gomez and Ibrahim Konate however Strasbourg still came away victorious thanks to a double from Adrien Thomasson either side of Habib Diallo’s left footed strike.
Before the start of the game there was a loud rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone followed by a poignant minutes applause for former Liverpool chairman David Moores who has recently passed away.
It didn’t take long for the deadlock to be opened at Anfield but it wasn’t the hosts who took the lead as Adrien Thomasson for Strasbourg grabbed the first goal after four minutes.
A lapse of concentration from right-back Isaac Mabaya allowed Thomasson to sneak in front of him before calmly dinking the ball over Harvey Davies.
Ten minutes after that opening goal the one-time French Champions extended their lead thanks to a powerful shot from Diallo
Left-back Luke Chambers gave away the ball cheaply in his own penalty area allowing Diallo to cut in on his left foot burying the ball into the bottom left corner.
In next to no time Strasbourg had again found the back of the net and it was again Thomasson.
James Milner attempted to hack Marvin Senaya down but he carried on going and pulled the ball pack for Thomasson to sweetly connect with first time to get his second of the game.
After the three goals in quick succession the young Liverpool side finally settled down and grew into the game with Fabio Carvalho having a half-chance curling an effort wide from the edge of the box.
Milner had a free-kick go straight into the wall then a moment later Liverpool were awarded another chance at goal from the edge of the box.
This time 17-year-old Stefan Bajcetic put the ball down authoritatively and confidently lined up.
His effort was heading towards the top corner until former Newcastle goalkeeper Matz Sels somehow managed to get a hand to it.
Just before half-time Chambers tried his luck from long-range with the effort not too far away.
With only five players named on the bench by Jurgen Klopp not many changes were made in the second half with Nathaniel Philips coming on for Mabaya.
On the 55th minute mark Sepp Van Den Berg had to come on to replace Konate who went down twice in discomfort after a challenge on him Bobby Clark also came on for Bajcetic at the same time.
Chambers on the hour mark tried his luck again from outside the box with his low drive being held by Sels causing him no issues.
Liverpool were sustaining the pressure in the second-half as a corner fell to new signing Carvalho with the goal opening up for him but he put the ball over the bar then shortly after Tyler Morton had a fizzing effort parried out by Sels but nothing came out of the rebound form Melkamu Frauendorf.
Diallo had an effort which beat Davies but also beat the post as he looked to get his second goal of the game.
With 15 minutes left to go Frauendorf found himself through on goal but the flag went up for offside yet he still dispatched his effort past Sels giving the Anfield crowd something to cheer about.
That was his last contribution of the game as he came off for Mateusz Musialowski who is highly rated in the academy.
Harvey Elliott, who was a threat down the right wing for large parts of the game, cut inside and hit a venomous effort on the edge of the box which was unfortunately for him always rising over the bar.
Sels was busy once again five minuets from the end as Elliott found Milner with a cute disguised pass in-behind the defence however the angle was tight for the veteran allowing the Belgian goalkeeper to fully grasp onto the ball.
Unfortunately for The Reds the game concluded without them being able to get on the scoresheet but it would have been an invaluable experience for some of the youngsters and vital minutes for the first teamers who were in action.
The Community Shield winners start their Premier League campaign next weekend at Craven Cottage against Fulham.
