RB Salzburg vs Liverpool FC

Liverpool went through another welcome workout as they took on Salzburg on Wednesday night, with plenty of positives despite a 1-0 defeat in Austria.

“We don’t force him to play as a controlling No. 6 in a Premier League game,” the manager explained. It is a unique pre-season, and with the Community Shield to plan for at the weekend, the minutes needed to be spread out. But there was a plan in motion, with the majority of those who played an hour against Leipzig on Thursday evening given 30 minutes against Salzburg, and vice versa. The Slovenian was a handful from the off, opening the scoring on the half-hour after a smooth move, and it would be no surprise if he was on the Reds’ radar in the months to come. There is a strong relationship between Liverpool and Red Bull, as evidenced by back-to-back friendlies with RB Leipzig and Salzburg, and it could benefit them in the future. Before the game, Klopp was effusive in his praise of the “project” among the Red Bull clubs, with Salzburg hailed for their ability to build despite the continued loss of high-value talent.