Liverpool and AC Milan will face off in a pre-season friendly in Hong Kong on Saturday, in a repeat of the 2005 and 2007 Champions League finals.

Milan have already been in action in the Far East earlier this week, while this will be just Liverpool’s second match of the summer, after a trip to Preston North End at the start of the month.

Match preview

It will be tough to improve on such a dominant league campaign, but Liverpool evidently have their sights set on even more for 2025-26.

Arne Slot led Liverpool to the Premier League title using a squad moulded by Jurgen Klopp, but the Dutch boss is stamping his footprint all over the side now, with numerous high-profile additions this summer.

Hugo Ekitike is the next man who has come through the door for big money this summer, joining Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, and English record signing Florian Wirtz, as Liverpool seek to retain the title they wrestled off Manchester City in May.

After taking their foot off the pedal, failing to win any of their final four games of the season, Liverpool beat Preston 3-1 at Deepdale on their return to action, and on a sombre day, in their first outing since the tragic death of fan favourite Diogo Jota.

The Reds have now jetted off to Asia for a brief tour, and they will face Japanese side Yokohama F. Marinos next week, before returning home to play Athletic Bilbao, ahead of the Community Shield against Crystal Palace.

Next up is a clash with Italian giants AC Milan, who have met a few times since the two Champions League finals in the mid-00s, with three friendlies and three UCL matches all going in Liverpool’s favour.

The most recent clash came on matchday one of the league phase in the Champions League last season, when Liverpool won 3-1 at San Siro, despite falling behind early on thanks to Christian Pulisic’s strike.

Milan have already been in action against Arsenal earlier this week, losing 1-0 to the Gunners, before playing a penalty shootout that ended 6-5 in favour of Milan.

That was Massimiliano Allegri’s first game back in charge of the Rossoneri, 11 years after leaving the club for Juventus, and he has a big rebuilding job on his hands this summer.

With some key players having already departed in Tijjani Reijnders and Theo Hernandez, more could still depart, but a clean sweep could be necessary, following a dismal eighth-place finish in Serie A last season.

That means Milan will play no European football at all next season, so all focus will be on Serie A, which gets underway for them against Cremonese on August 23.

Before then, Milan will face Perth Glory and Chelsea in more pre-season friendlies, before coming up against Serie B side Bari in the Coppa Italia the week before Serie A commences.

Liverpool Club Friendlies form:

W

AC Milan Club Friendlies form:

L

Team News

Slot handed debuts to Frimpong, Kerkez and goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili in the win over Preston earlier this month, with the latter now at the club after spending last season on loan at Valencia.

Liverpool fans will be keen to see Wirtz in a red shirt for the first time, and this could be the first sighting of him following his move from Leverkusen over the summer.

Virgil van Dijk, Alexis Mac Allister, Luis Diaz, Alisson and Ibrahima Konate were all absent for the friendly against Preston, but have travelled with the squad, and should be involved in some capacity.

After losing Reijnders and Hernandez, Rafael Leao continues to be linked with a move away, but the Milan number 10 remains a Rossoneri player for now, and started against Arsenal.

Big money has been spent on rebuilding their midfield, with Samuele Ricci coming in alongside veteran Luka Modric, who has arrived following a decade at Real Madrid.

There are no injuries hanging over from last season, with Santiago Gimemenz the only player doubtful after his Gold Cup commitments, but with Luka Jovic, Tammy Abraham and Francesco Camarda all departing, there was no recognised striker in their side against Arsenal.

Liverpool possible starting lineup:

Mamardashvili; Frimpong, Konate, Gomez, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Endo, Jones; Salah, Nunez, Ngumoha

AC Milan possible starting lineup:

Terracciano; Tomori, Thiaw, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Ricci, Musah, Loftus-Cheek, Chukwueze; Leao, Okafor

We say: Liverpool 3-1 AC Milan

There is still a long way to go for Milan to rebuild fully following a very poor season, and after losing to Arsenal last week, their shortcomings could be highlighted again by a much stronger Liverpool side here.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Andrew Delaney

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