Shaqiri shines in debut as Liverpool rout Man United
ANN ARBOR: Liverpool scored three second-half goals as they wrapped up their US pre-season tour on Saturday with a dominating 4-1 victory over Manchester United at Michigan Stadium.
Xherdan Shaqiri put a stamp on his Liverpool debut with a spectacular bicyclekick goal to round out the scoring in the International Champions Cup match in front of a crowd of 101,000.
Shaqiri, of Switzerland, was one of five recent high-profile signings which saw Liverpool shell out more than £200 million.
The Reds now travel back to Merseyside before continuing their preparations for the season with a training camp in France beginning next week.
Sadio Mane converted a penalty to open the scoring for Liverpool in the 28th minute. United midfielder Andreas Pereira tied the game 1-1 in the 31st minute off a free-kick.
But Juergen Klopp’s team seized command in the second half, starting with Daniel Sturridge’s 66th-minute strike.
Shaqiri did the heavy lifting on the play, outmuscling a United defender and then slipping a pass back to Sturridge who
made it 2-1.
Sheyi Ojo then scored off a spot-kick in the 74th minute. That set the stage for Shaqiri to bring the packed stadium to its feet eight minutes later with his overhead kick from inside the box off a nice feed from Ben Woodburn.
In Pasadena, California, Barcelona triumphed 5-3 on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur after a 2-2 draw in their opening ICC encounter.
Both sides were without many of their big names who are all still recovering from their exertions at the World Cup.
But Barcelona’s weakened team dominated the opening half and went ahead through goals from Munir (15th) and Arthur (29th).
But after Ernesto Valverde introduced a raft of teenagers into the fray, Spurs began to pull themselves back into the game and pulled level with goals from Son HeungMin (72nd) and Georges-Kevin N’koudou (74th).
In the shoot-out that followed, Anthony Georgious missed for Spurs, with Barcelona converting all five of their spot-kicks.