Liverpool falls to Sevilla
Klopp enjoys Fenway
Liverpool FC coach Jurgen Klopp was his usual affable self even in face of an unfriendly 2-1 result in a preseason friendly with Sevilla FC at sold-out Fenway Park.
“We lost 2-1 and I really hate that fact. It’s history. I don’t like to lose and give the impression that we lost because of all the hard challenges,” the 52-year-old German-born Klopp said. “I would like for you to write the story about that and not about what I say and not make Klopp the headline.
“It was nice here in Boston. We call it our owner’s (John Henry) city. An unbelievable city. The pitch was good even with the baseball field underneath. They had many opportunities to water the pitch. We really loved it here. A historical place. We enjoyed everything but the result. All good.”
The match began with temps in the 90s, and the heat still hovered around 89 in the closing minutes. The winning goal came in the 90th minute when speedy Sevilla youngster Alejandro Pozo Pozo took a pass, worked his way around Reds keeper Simon Mignolet and deposited a left-foot shot into the net as he fell to the turf.
Klopp maintained a proper outlook, even though the packed house might have differed regarding the red card issued to Sevilla’s Joris Gnagnon, who leg-whipped Liverpool’s Yasser Larouci in the 75th minute. Larouci was carted off the field on a stretcher.
“He was unable to continue, but in the locker room he looked OK,” Klopp said.
The Reds had the initial quality chance in the fourth minute after midfielder Divock Origi fought off a would-be tackler and forced Sevilla keeper Sergio Gonzales Rico to come across and secure the near post.
At the opposite end of the pitch, which was laid out within Fenway Park’s quirky confines on a direct line from the third base dugout toward the right field bullpens, saw Luuk de Jong squander a pair of golden opportunities two minutes apart beginning at the 10minute juncture. The 28year-old Swiss-born Dutch National team member just missed on his second chance from outside the 6-yard box was only kept out by a diving effort from Liverpool goalkeeper Andy Lonergan.
A man to be watched and monitored closely by the English Premier side was Sevilla’s ever-dangerous Maximiliano Banega, who was fortunate to avoid drawing a card after one particular sliding tackle and was exerting his presence with shots just off the target when attacking. For much the remainder of the game, Banega was booed by the Liverpool fans whenever he enjoyed touches.
On sure-fire way to take a partisan crowd out of the proceedings is to put the ball into the back of the opposing net. That’s precisely what Sevilla did in the 35th minute when a delivery into the penalty area was blocked. The ball bounced clear to Manuel “Nolito” Agudo and the 32year-old member of the Spanish national team showed quality by firing a shot into the upper right corner.
That margin stood for less than six minutes when the Reds struck back. After a corner kick, Origi, the 24year-old Belgina-born son of former Kenyan footballer Mike Oirigi, collected the ball at the back post and slotted into the open side to knot the score.
Given the searing heat and the fact it was only a preseason friendly, substitutions became the order of the day and one key Liverpool switch was to bring on keeper Simon Mignolet. The 31-year-old member of the Belgian national team proved his worthiness with consecutive stops in the 55th minute before punching away a dangerous corner kick. The Reds also received some quality minutes from young 22-year-old winger Ryan Kent.