86 mins
Ben Doak has a bright future at Anfield and just showed a glimpse of what he’s capable of.
The Scot tied his defender up in knots down the right flank, got to the byline and cut the ball back.
Betis managed to scramble it away but that was electric from Doak.
08:2178 mins
Huge chances for Betis to equalise.
Rodri gets in behind and shoots but Jaros stands up and blocks it. He could have squared it but went for goal instead.
10 minutes to go in Pittsburgh.
08:1271 mins
Lots of energy still in this Liverpool side but the quality has dropped off a little.
Nyoni comes off after a stellar 40 minutes in midfield. He’s certainly not harmed his chances of more first-team football this season.
Lewis Koumas is on in his place.
08:0867 mins
Close to a second for Liverpool there.
Blair is played through on goal but the goalkeeper is quick to smother the young forward.
It comes to Gordon but his shot from a narrow angle whistles past the far post.
08:07Confirmation of the Liverpool changes
Just getting my head around who came on there.
ON: Bajcetic, Chambers, Phillips, Gordon, Doak, Beck, Blair, Stephenson
OFF: Szoboszlai, Salah, Elliott, Tsimikas, Carvalho, van den Berg, Quansah, Bradley
08:04Here’s the goal!08:0160 mins
Liverpool looked as though they were in there.
Tsimikas broke down the left and had three players, including Salah, charging up ahead of him.
Unfortunately the Greek’s pass got cut out and Betis cleared.
08:00Here come the changes
Now we’re getting lots of changes for the Reds – eight in total.
07:4847 mins
Nervy first moment for Jaros in the Liverpool goal there. The goalkeeper charges out to meet a loose ball and steams into Fornals.
The Liverpool goalkeeper wins it cleanly, though, and clears it to safety.
07:47Back underway
The second half is underway in Pittsburgh. Can Liverpool turn their dominance into more goals?
07:47A few changes
As we’ve come to expect in friendlies, Liverpool have made a couple of changes at the break.
ON: Jaros, Morton
OFF: Kelleher, Endo
07:28Half time in Pittsburgh
Liverpool have a free kick just before the interval but it comes to nothing and the whistle goes.
The Reds lead 1-0 thanks to Szoboszlai’s goal. Arne Slot will be largely happy with what he’s seen.
Stick around for the second half.
07:25Into added time
The tempo of the game has dropped now as we approach half time.
Into three minutes of added time.
07:1939 mins
Arne Slot would have been delighted with that goal. Nice interchange between his two key men on show tonight.
Liverpool have stepped it up massively in the last 5 to 10 minutes. Looks much more comfortable and in the stride now.
07:13GOAL! 1-0 Liverpool
Liverpool have the first goal of the Arne Slot era.
Szoboszlai picks up the ball in midfield and passes it out to Salah on the right side.
The Hungarian continues his run into the box and Salah finds him with a perfectly weighted pass inside the right channel.
Szoboszlai then fires, first time, into the opposite corner. A lovely goal that delighted the Pittsburgh fans.
07:11First sub of the night
A part of pre-season friendlies is the constant use of substitutions.
But it looks like Curtis Jones has taken a slight knock here and he’s hooked straight away to prevent any risk.
On comes youngster Trey Nyoni in his place.
07:0727 mins
Much better from Liverpool there.
Bradley gets in down the right flank. It looks like he’s going to square it to Salah but instead cuts it back to the onrushing Elliott.
Rather than shoot, he tries to pass to Carvalho but puts it behind the youngster.
The move ends in a shot for Tsimikas but it gets deflected and loops into Adrian’s arms.
07:0423 mins
Poor from Endo there. His weak pass doesn’t reach Van den Berg and allows Betis to pounce and break.
Carvalho rolls it out to Fornals on the right. He lays the ball inside to Fekir but his shot, on the turn, goes well over the bar.
07:0019 mins
So close for Betis!
Endo gets the ball stuck underneath his feet on the edge of Liverpool’s box.
It comes out to the onrushing Perraud but his fierce strike goes just wide of Kelleher’s goal.
06:55Still goalless in Pittsburgh
06:5414 mins
Salah has a good chance to open the scoring by his standards. Liverpool again win the ball high up the pitch.
It comes to the Egyptian on his left foot but he fires one of his trademark curling efforts high and wide.
06:5010 mins
Arne Slot insisted his team would be similar in certain ways to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and the pressing is still there.
Tsimikas nips in to win the ball back on the edge of the Betis box – leading to a shot from Endo that goes over the bar.
06:466 mins
Both Quansah and Van den Berg have played Liverpool into trouble in the last few minutes.
The Dutchman played a loose pass to a Betis player before Quansah tried to dribble out of the penalty area and lost possession.
06:433 mins
With no recognised striker in this Liverpool team, they’ve started in something of a 4-2-4 formation with Szoboszlai and Elliott as false nines.
Fabio Carvalho has the first shot of the game. He cuts inside and shoots but fires high and wide.
06:422 mins
Bright start for Liverpool as Kostas Tsimikas gets in behind down the left side. His cross is cut out though and Betis scramble the ball away.
06:40We’re underway!
We’re finally underway in Pittsburgh for the first real test of the Arne Slot era at Liverpool.
06:37The players are out
Both sets of players make their way out onto the pitch.
It has to be said there are a lot of empty seats at Acrisure Stadium with just minutes to go until kick off.
Doubt there will be this many available for next week’s games against Arsenal and Manchester United.
06:31You’ll Never Walk Alone plays out
We might be in Pittsburgh tonight but shut your eyes and it could easily be Anfield.
You’ll Never Walk Alone is being blasted through the stadium as the American fans wait for their heroes to emerge onto the pitch.
06:29Pre-match thoughts in Pittsburgh
LEWIS STEELE: Atmosphere is building here at the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Arne Slot has named a decent side for his first real friendly – after a behind-closed-doors match against Preston last week – with plenty of big names involved.
The most interesting thing, though, might be to observe the likes of Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg, who both impressed on loans last season. Can they stake a claim to stick around this campaign? Let’s find out!
06:20What about the Betis team?
A few household names in here.
Adrian starts in goal just a few weeks after leaving Liverpool on a free to move back to his boyhood club.
We have Nabil Fekir, who famously came so close to joining Liverpool, and perennial Premier League transfer target William Carvalho.
Plus, Pablo Fornals and Diego Llorente played in the Premier League with West Ham and Leeds respectively.
06:18Thoughts on Liverpool’s warm-up06:17Inside the dressing room
Not long to go now until kickoff in Pittsburgh.
NFL locker rooms are famously massive and there looks like a lot of space unfilled by Liverpool here.
06:14Arne Slot hits back at moans over Liverpool’s lack of transfer activity – with Reds yet to make a signing this summer – and insists ‘it’s not so easy’ to find suitable players to fit his side
LEWIS STEELE: Arne Slot has hit back at Liverpool fans’ moans about a lack of transfer activity by insisting he has a sky-high standard for signing new players – and the squad he has inherited is good enough to achieve their targets.
The new Liverpool head coach was talking in Pittsburgh ahead of leg one of a three-stop tour of the United States, where they face Real Betis on Friday evening, and insisted he will not make summer signings for the sake of it.
Asked if the reason they have not bolstered their squad yet, Slot said: ‘Me wanting to assess (the current group), which is difficult because most of them aren’t here. Second, I’ve inherited a team which is really good so it’s not so easy to find players of the same standard or even higher.
READ FULL STORY BELOW
Slot hits back at moans over Liverpool’s lack of transfer activityLEWIS STEELE IN PITTSBURGH: The new Liverpool head coach was talking in Pittsburgh ahead of leg one of a three-stop tour of the United States, where they face Real Betis on Friday.Mail Online06:07Our man on the ground in Pittsburgh06:01Curtis Jones insists he’s ‘the happiest he’s ever been’ after Arne Slot’s arrival to replace ex-boss Jurgen Klopp this summer… with midfielder keen to shed his ‘squad player’ tag at Anfield
LEWIS STEELE: When Jurgen Klopp said his goodbyes to Anfield and sailed off into the sun with a tear in his eyes, most connected with Liverpool
left the stadium with an album of sad emotions at the end of a glorious era. But not Curtis Jones.
It would be easy to apply a negative spin to that previous paragraph but hold fire, that is not the case – Jones idolised Klopp and agreed he was a legend of the club. Saying that, though, the Liverpool midfielder saw it as a chance.
A chance to wipe a slate clean and start afresh. A chance to put every breath into showing the new boss what he is capable of. And a chance to make a leap forward from a squad player unable to ever nail down a starting XI spot for a consistent period.
READ FULL STORY BELOW
Curtis Jones says ‘I’m the happiest I’ve ever been’ at LiverpoolLEWIS STEELE IN PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: Jones now believes he is ready to take that step by playing in a style of play that is perfect for him.Mail Online05:47Here come the players
We’re expecting a capacity crowd in Pittsburgh tonight and they’ve had their first glimpse of the Liverpool players as they strolled out onto the pitch.
05:39Who else do the Reds play?
Slot and his players touched down in Pittsburgh earlier this week and have been using the facilities of the city’s Steelers.
After playing Betis tonight, they move on to Philadelphia to play Arsenal on Wednesday before ending their tour against Manchester United in South Carolina next Saturday.
05:35Team news
There will no doubt be lots of rotation and substitutions from Arne Slot tonight as he continues to assess the squad he’s inherited from Jurgen Klopp. But here’s how Liverpool will start.
Keller, Bradley, Quansah, Van den Berg, Tsimikas, Endo, Szoboszlai, Jones, Elliott, Carvalho, Salah.
Subs: Jaros, Bajcetic, Chambers, Phillips, Gordon, Doak, Beck, Nallo, Koumas, Morton, Blair, Stephenson, Nyoni.
05:30Good evening!
Hello and welcome to Mail Sport’s live coverage of Liverpool’s first friendly of their pre-season tour in the USA.
First up for Arne Slot’s Reds is Real Betis in Pittsburgh. Stick with us for all the action from Pennsylvania.
