Liverpool bested Manchester City 2-1 tonight in an International Champions Cup match featuring the top two contenders for the 2018-19 Premier League title. Sure, it’s just a friendly, and both sides were without numerous key players, but City are getting the best title odds right now and Liverpool are right behind them.
Thus, it’s about as interesting as a preseason exhibition can actually come close to being, so let’s take a look at news and notes emerged from it.
Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah both only joined up with the Reds in New York, and the duo were key reserves off the bench in this contest, providing both goals for LFC.
Mane provided the game winner, from the penalty spot in stoppage time. Salah further validated that he’s 100% back to fitness now as it took him less than a minute that he was on the pitch in order to score.
Salah came dangerously close to bagging a brace on two occasions, as he created several more scoring chances.
As we saw tonight, Liverpool will have a very exciting, high flying attack again this season, and they’ll likely be in mid-season form right off the bat.
Leroy Sane, another star player who is behind some of his mates when it comes to the preseason schedule, also scored rapidly, finding the back of the net in the 57′ just 12 minutes after he had entered the pitch. Expect him to kick his game up a notch this season as he goes through the campaign with a massive chip on his shoulder, having been snubbed by Germany.
Riyad Mahrez didn’t score, but the Algerian international showed you tonight why he was worth the wait in being acquired from Leicester City. Mahrez gave City another dimension tonight, and you could see from his action in this one that he’ll be a tone setter for City this term.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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