by Despite it being a friendly, it simply didn’t matter, the mission was clear for Liverpool FC, get new manager Arne Slot his first win. They did with a 1-0 victory over Real Betis tonight in Pittsburgh at Acrisure Stadium . The Reds had plenty of fan support however as a safe bet could be made that 90% of the fans in attendance were Liverpool fans. A number that was announced as 42,679 fans into Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
After quite a bit of back and forth in the first 30 plus minutes of the match, it was Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai finding the open net in the bottom left corner. It appeared for a moment, that he may have been slightly offsides, but the refs saw it differently and it was a goal.
A big reason for the Liverpool late push in the half was the play of Salah who was working the angles perfectly and creating open windows for his teammates. This combination of Salah and Szoboszlai may be a combination that coach Slot can rely on in the future.
All in all, the first half was a pretty calm with not too many serious chances on either end. Liverpool had 2 shots on goal, while Real Betis was unable to get a strike on target. The only yellow card of the opening 45 minutes came from Wataru Endo (Liverpool) who was a little aggressive with a foul in the closing minutes.
Early into the second half, Liverpool picked up their second yellow card of the match. This time it was Jarrell Quansah which set up a free kick near the FC goal for Betis, however, they could not connect. Moments later it was Liverpool with a great chance to score as they had numbers on Betis but couldn’t make it count. A soft shot by Fabio Carvalho was saved easily.
The intensity of the night continued as the fans broke out into a wave, that made nearly a baker’s dozen worth of trips around the stadium in the 61rst minute. The wave did nothing to spark goals however, as the game remained 1 -0 for quite a bit longer.
Liverpool had a chance in the 87th minute to extend it to 2-0 as they once again had numbers, but Real Betis kept it 1-0 with a quick adjustment to guard the net and keep the ball out of there one more time. Liverpool went on to capture the 1-0 victory from there.
Full Stats can be seen below.
FULL TIME MATCH STATISTICS
Acrisure Stadium – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
07.26.2024 – 7:38 p.m. ET
Attendance: 42,679
Liverpool F.C 1-0 Real Betis
GOALS:
Liverpool F.C.: 8 – Dominik Szoboszlai, 34’
Real Betis:
LINEUPS:
Liverpool F.C.:
62 – Caiomhin Kelleher (56 – Vitezslav Jaros, 46’), 3 – Wataru Endo (80 – Tyler Morton, 46’), 8 – Dominik Szoboszlai (43 –
Stefan Bajcetic, 62’), 11 – Mohamed Salah © (49 – Kaide Gordon, 62’), 17 – Curtis Jones (98 – Trey Nyoni, 30’, 67 –
Lewis Koumas, 71’), 19 – Harvey Elliott (50 – Ben Doak, 62’), 21 – Kostas Tsimakis (44 – Luke Chambers, 62’), 28 – Fabio
Carvalho (86 – Harvey Blair, 62’), 72 – Sepp Van Den Berg (91 – Luca Stephenson, 62’), 78 – Jarell Quansah (63 – Owen
Beck, 62’), 84 – Conor Bradley (47 – Nathaniel Phillips, 62’)
DNP: 65 – Amara Nallo
DT: Arne SLOT
Real Betis:
13 – Adrian San Miguel (25 – Fran Vietes, 46’), 3 – Llorente R., 8 – Nabil Fekir © (19 – Iker Losada, 62’), 14 – William
Carvalho (24 – Aitor Ruibal, 62’), 15 – Romain Perraud (43 – Lucas Alcazar, 74’), 16 – Sergi Altimira (46 – Mateo, 86’), 18
– Pablo Fornals (17 – Rodri, 62’), 20 – Juanmi (52 – Pablo Garcia, 46’), 23 – Youssouf Sabaly (2 – Hector Bellerin, 62’), 32
– Nobel Mendy, 44 – Marcos (9 – Chimy Ávila, 46’)
DNP: 1 – Rui Silva, 45 – Ismael
DT: Manuel PELLEGRINI
BOOKED:
Liverpool F.C.: 3 – Wataru Endo (caution) 44’, 78 – Jarell Quansah (caution) 49’
Real Betis: 24 – Aitor Ruibal (caution) 90+2’
STATISTICS: LIV BET
Shots: 9 7
Saves: 1 2
Fouls: 18 15
Corners: 1 1
Offside: 4
