Liverpool needed a second half comeback – including a stoppage time brace from Diogo Jota – to avoid embarrassment in their first pre-season fixture of the summer, eventually prevailing 4-2.
Jurgen Klopp named a mostly strong Reds XI from the start, with Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Luis Diaz featuring from the opening kick-off. There was also an unofficial debut for £60m signing Dominik Szoboszlai straight off the bat.
There was, however, no Jordan Henderson in the matchday selection as his proposed move to Saudi Pro League club Al Ettifaq edges closer to completion after a £15m transfer was agreed.
As might have been expected against a second tier opponent, Liverpool got off to the perfect start when Darwin Nunez broke the deadlock with less than three minutes on the clock.
Nunez was initially put through on goal by Salah. But, instead of shooting, he chose a more difficult option by trying a reverse pass back to his teammate. It was poorly executed and therefore it looked like the chance had gone begging until Salah managed to send it back to the Uruguayan again. At the second time of asking, and to the relief of Klopp, he made no mistake and swept the ball in.
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But that lead wasn’t to last and Karlsruher were back in it before half-time in the most spectacular way possible. A corner from the left was deliberately pulled to the edge of the box, where veteran forward Lars Stindl was on hand to smash a volley into the top corner.
Klopp changed things completely at half-time to give 11 more players minutes on the pitch – that included another unofficial debutant in World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister. More youngsters than in the first half made it on, although they were still outnumbered by senior players.
That made it all the more surprising when Karlsruher took the lead three minutes after the restart. It wasn’t as good as the hosts’ first, but it was still a smart finish from Sebastian Jung as he fired high into the net at the near post. Reds goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros might have questioned his role in it, though, arguably not making himself big enough and getting too low to the ground.
Liverpool brought themselves back level when Cody Gakpo spun on Jota’s knockdown header around six yards from goal and buried his finish. The Dutchman then returned the favour in the 92nd minute as the Reds went in front for the first time since the first half, touching into the path of Jota to skip past two defenders and find the net from close-range.
Jota made doubly sure of the win seconds later, played in by Mac Allister to finish at the near post.
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This article was originally published on 90min as Karlsruher 2-4 Liverpool: Late Jota brace spares pre-season blushes.
