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Liverpool begin life under Andoni Iraola with pre-season victory against Sunderland

Chisea (L) and Szoboszlai (R) celebrate
Chisea (L) and Szoboszlai (R) celebrateZUMA Press Wire / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia

Liverpool claimed a 4-2 pre-season victory over fellow Premier League ⁠side Sunderland on Saturday in Andoni Iraola's first game in charge, but it came ‌at a cost after defender Joe Gomez sustained an ‌injury.

Gomez, 29, left the pitch inside the ‌opening 10 minutes of the match in Nashville, ‌with goals from Kieran Morrison, Dominik Szoboszlai, ‌Federico Chiesa and Lewis Koumas then earning Liverpool the win.

"A lot of things to correct, obviously, it's ‌the first day. You could feel ⁠the heavy legs, ‌the players have been training," Iraola said in an ​interview on the club's website.

Iraola applauds fans after the game
Iraola applauds fans after the gameČTK / AP / George Walker IV

"So, we lacked some freshness. But it will give ​us a good starting point to improve things. Probably the worst news has been straight ⁠away the injury ​of Joe.

"We were happy because we were kind of going through all the training without losing any player. Unluckily for us, straight away ‌we've lost Joe."

The Spaniard added that centre-back Jeremy Jacquet, whose previous season was cut short by a shoulder injury before his summer move to Liverpool, is likely to feature in their pre-season preparations.

"He has been a lot of months without playing with a shoulder injury. So, I think we are going to take ‌it easy with him," he added.

"He will ​play probably the last game of this ‌US tour and he will have time to have minutes."

Match stats
Match statsFlashscore

Liverpool play pre-season games against Wrexham, Leeds United, AS Monaco and Como, before their first match of the Premier ⁠League season away to ⁠Newcastle on August ‌23rd.

See stats from the match here