Reds rout Napoli as Alisson makes debut
DUBLIN: Brazil goalkeeper Alisson kept a clean sheet on Saturday on his Liverpool debut in a 5-0 demolition of Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli in Dublin.
James Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum both scored inside the opening 10 minutes at the Aviva Stadium in Liverpool’s penultimate pre-season friendly.
Liverpool lost Milner to a clash of heads with Napoli defender Mario Rui early in the second half in an incident that left the former England international needing 15 stitches.
Mohamed Salah, who hit 32 Premier League goals last term which is a record for a 38-game season, added a third for Juergen Klopp’s men just before the hour.
Daniel Sturridge and Alberto Moreno rounded out the scoring as Alisson, who joined from Roma in a deal worth up to £67 million last month, was relatively untested.
Liverpool conclude their pre-season at home to Torino tomorrow before launching their Premier League campaign on Aug 12 against West Ham United at Anfield.
It is not yet clear whether Milner will miss the game.
Meanwhile substitute Marco Asensio made an immediate impact by scoring two early second-half goals as Real Madrid rallied to beat Juventus 3-1 in a pre-season exhibition contest in Landover, Maryland, on Saturday.
Asensio entered the game at the start of the second half and scored less than two minutes in before adding another in the 56th minute.
It was the first defeat of the pre-season and the final match of the International Champions Cup campaign for Italy’s Juventus. The Serie A champions now open up their title defence at Chievo on Aug 18.
They were without new signing Cristiano Ronaldo, who did not make his debut against his former team. The Portuguese superstar skipped the club’s US tour because he was recovering from his World Cup performance.
Gareth Bale also scored for the European champions as the Welshman served notice that he is going to produce despite the loss of Ronaldo.
Bale hit a stunning shot from 20 yards out in the 39th minute to level the score at 1-1 in the front of the crowd of 60,000 at FedEx Field.