Huddersfield Town vs Liverpool. Friendly Match.
The John Smith's Stadium.
Thursday 21 July 2016 20:13, UK
Liverpool maintained their unbeaten pre-season as goals in each half from Marko Grujic and an Alberto Moreno penalty saw off Huddersfield Town on Wednesday night.
The Premier League side led at the break thanks to Grujic's well-taken strike just past the half-hour mark, his second since signing for the Reds.
However, despite both teams making a raft of changes at half-time, it was Liverpool who scored again through Moreno's late spot-kick as the visitors made it four wins out of four so far this summer.
Klopp - who was facing close friend David Wagner in the opposing dugout - recalled Grujic after the midfielder missed Sunday's 2-0 win at Wigan with a tight hamstring, but fellow new signing Joel Matip was absent with a minor knock.
It is not expected to prevent the centre back from travelling with the rest of the squad to the United States tonight, though, as the Reds step up their pre-season preparations.
As a result of Matip's absence, Klopp opted to field experienced Brazilian Lucas Leiva alongside Dejan Lovren at the heart of Liverpool's back four in front of a 21,000-plus capacity crowd at the John Smith Stadium.
It was another new arrival at Anfield this summer, though, who caught the eye in the first half, with Sadio Mane displaying just why the Reds was prepared to pay £36m in order to lure the forward from Southampton.
In fact, Mane can count himself more than a little unfortunate not to have opened the scoring after 18 minutes after Chris Lowe's poor back pass had put Joel Coleman in all sorts of problems.
But despite nipping in to toe poke the ball into the empty net as Coleman attempted a desperate last-ditch clearance, the man in the middle ruled the 'goal' out for a foul on the Huddersfield goalkeeper.
That close call appeared to stir the hosts into life, with Jack Payne then forcing another new Liverpool signing, 'keeper Loris Karius, into a wonderful diving save midway through the first period.
It was the visitors, however, who struck first following a quick counterattack involving Mane, who then fed Roberto Firminio down the right-hand channel of the box.
After the Brazil international's inch-perfect pull back had picked out Grujic, the 20-year-old beat Coleman with a well-struck left-footed effort from just inside the box.
Liverpool could, and should, have doubled their lead moments later after Mane broke clean through on goal, only to be felled in the box by the advancing Coleman, who was booked for his troubles.
But from the resulting penalty, Philippe Coutinho saw his spot-kick brilliantly turned aside by the diving Coleman at full stretch.
Huddersfield made 10 changes at the break, while Liverpool introduced all six of their outfield players, with the second period being a bitty affair as a result.
Klopp was even forced to play backup 'keeper Shamal George as a makeshift attacker when Lucas suffered a hamstring injury on the hour-mark, just at the same time the game was temporarily halted after a drone was spotted flying over the ground.
With the game petering out, though, Liverpool were handed another opportunity to further increase their advantage when Martin Cranie tripped Ryan Kent in the box as the clock ticked down to 90 minutes.
But despite the visiting fans urging George to take the penalty, Moreno stepped up to keep his cool from the spot as the Reds headed across the Pond in good heart having won all their pre-season fixtures without conceding.
The only place to watch all of Liverpool FC's pre-season games is LFCTV: www.liverpoolfc.com/watch
