Liverpool and Leeds meet in Chicago as pre-season US tour reaches its finale

Liverpool and Leeds United rounded off their pre-season tours of the United States against each other on Sunday evening, meeting at Soldier Field in Chicago in the final warm-up fixture before the new Premier League campaign.

The friendly gave both Andoni Iraola and Daniel Farke a last chance to fine-tune combinations and hand minutes to squad players before the top flight gets under way, with the two clubs having already faced other opposition earlier in their respective tours.

Liverpool had beaten Wrexham during their stateside schedule, while Leeds arrived in Chicago on the back of a 1-0 win over West Ham. Both clubs had also fitted in fixtures against Sunderland as part of their preparations.

Injury concerns for both sides

Iraola travelled to Chicago with a lengthy injury list. Hugo Ekitike is out with an Achilles problem and Conor Bradley is nursing a knee issue, while Stefan Bajcetic, Giovanni Leoni and Joe Gomez were all unavailable for selection.

Farke’s options were also stretched, with Ilia Gruev continuing his spell on the sidelines and Gabriel Gudmundsson carrying a muscle issue heading into the friendly.

Managers reflect on pre-season progress

Speaking ahead of the game, Iraola reflected on his own development since taking charge at Anfield. “I want to think I’m much better than I was one year before,” he said. “I think I have one more year of experience in the Premier League. It was obviously for me personally an incredible season last season. But now it’s a different challenge.”

The Liverpool boss added that expectations have risen alongside the level of his squad. “The expectations are going to be higher, the level of the players is higher and it’s a matter of it being a challenge for me as a coach to adapt tactically to new scenarios,” he said. “Now the first steps, the first pre-season tour, I think is going well. I’m quite happy, but it’s true that we need to still have a lot of the senior players, integrate them, and it has been quite progressive, but I think we are in a good direction.”

Farke, meanwhile, was pleased with his side’s showing against Premier League opposition before the win over West Ham. “Just very happy. The next minutes under our belt in a very competitive game against another Premier League side,” he said. “Yeah, very happy for the boys for a really, really solid and good performance. It is always good to have a first win under your belt especially also against a good side, gives self confidence. I am definitely happy with the clean sheet.”

A fitting stage for a Premier League friendly

Soldier Field, home of the NFL’s Chicago Bears, hosted the friendly despite having been overlooked as a venue during the recent World Cup staged in North America. The fixture nonetheless drew significant interest from travelling supporters of both clubs, with coverage in the UK available through LFCTV, All Red Video and LUTV.

With the friendly now played out, both Liverpool and Leeds will turn their attention to completing their pre-season preparations before the Premier League fixtures begin in earnest.

Read more: Liverpool short of centre-backs as Iraola’s Reds face Wrexham at Yankee Stadium

Sources

• The Mirror
• WalesOnline

This is an independent report written from the facts across the sources named above.