Liverpool beaten 4-2 in AC Milan friendly as Wirtz starts

Liverpool were beaten 4-2 by AC Milan in their pre-season meeting in Hong Kong.

Ahead of kick-off on Saturday, Kenny Dalglish laid a wreath in memory of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva in front of supporters who raised a mosaic which read "DJ 20," while Liverpool players wore shirts with a commemoration to Jota.

Rafael Leao put Milan ahead 10 minutes in with a close-range finish and there was applause from fans inside the Kai Tak stadium in the 20th minute, paying tribute to Jota and Silva.

Liverpool equalized in the 26th minute through Dominik Szoboszlai, who sent an excellent strike into the far top corner, but Ruben Loftus-Cheek restored Milan's lead in the 52nd minute and Noah Okafor soon extended their advantage further.

A frenetic finale saw Cody Gakpo nod home in the second minute of stoppage time before Okafor immediately responded at the opposite end.

Arne Slot changed nearly his entire team at half-time and the friendly saw minutes for new signings Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez but Liverpool were without Joe Gomez, who has returned to England for treatment on an Achilles problem.

Slot told the Liverpool website ahead of Saturday's friendly: "He was, of course, with us for the first part of the week, but he had some Achilles problems.

"We thought it was better to assess it back in England and for him to work on him(self) to come back to the team, probably in more ideal circumstances for him than to be part of the group that every time goes out.

"So, we decided to let him go back to England. But we hope and expect to have him back soon."

Bayern Munich target Luis Diaz also did not feature.