Tribal Football

Iraola: Leeds defeat was Liverpool's 'most useful' preseason test

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola.
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola.Reuters

Liverpool head back to the UK following a 4-2 preseason loss to Premier League rivals Leeds United in Chicago.

Andoni Iraola's team opened up their USA tour with wins over Sunderland and Wrexham, but a second-half collapse against Leeds saw them ended on a negative, as Daniel Farke side scored four goals in the last half hour at Soldier Field.

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Iraola named several first team players in his starting XI, including Milos Kerkez, Dominik Szoboszlai, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, with Ryan Gravenberch and Curtis Jones among those introduced at the break.

Despite a denting result, Iraola was pragmatic in his post-match assessment, as he builds towards the start of the 2026/27 campaign.

"I think we learn a lot of things. Obviously it's not the result you want, but I think it was probably the most useful friendly we've played – in a positive way in the first half and in a negative way in the second half."

Liverpool now have three more friendlies to play - all back at Anfield - including a clash with AS Monaco on August 9th and two games against Como on August 16th.

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