A rotated Liverpool lineup easily swept aside the visiting Athletic Club, with Rio Ngumoha earning a standing ovation for his goal and role in the 4-1 win. Report from Anfield.
Liverpool 4-1 Athletic Club
Pre-Season Friendly (4), Anfield
August 4, 2025
Goals
Ngumoha 2′ (assist: Mac Allister)
Nunez 5′ (assist: Ngumoha)
Doak 43′ (assist: Jones)
Elliott 58′ (assist: Nunez)
Guruzeta 76′
Team News
In the first of the two kickoffs, Arne Slot named a rotated lineup that featured a mix of the club’s youngsters and experienced senior regulars as the new Adidas home kit made its debut.
With the defence hit by injury and illness (Virgi van Dijk, ill; Joe Gomez, injured; Conor Bradley, injured), it was a makeshift backline for the first XI.
New signing Freddie Woodman was in goal as Andy Robertson lined up at centre-back alongside Trey Nyoni, with Luca Stephenson and Kostas Tsimikas on either side.
Curtis Jones, Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott injected experience in the middle, with Darwin Nunez leading the line next to Rio Ngumoha and Ben Doak amid growing transfer speculation.
Ngumoha sets the tone in the first
Despite the Main Stand having to evacuate prior to kickoff, the match got underway on time, but many will have been forced to miss yet another goal from the exciting Ngumoha.
With less than two minutes on the clock, Mac Allister won possession in the centre circle to set the 16-year-old on his way; passing was never on his mind as he confidently powered forward and finished into the bottom corner.
He then turned provider just minutes later, deftly putting the ball in Nunez‘s path for a simple close-range finish after Elliott and Doak combined to get the ball in the box.
“Rio” was the chant from the Kop. Slot has a job keeping the hype to a minimum!
The game then stopped after the 20-minute mark to pay tribute to Diogo Jota, as players and supporters stood together for a minute’s applause before his chant rang around Anfield.
Nyoni, who wouldn’t have anticipated playing centre-back, showed off his game intelligence to stop Athletic getting on the scoresheet in a Van Dijk-esque manner, but equally was shown the care needed in possession as the last line of defence.
Stephenson’s bright pre-season continued and his link-up with Doak was a feature of the half, with the Scot forcing the Athletic ‘keeper into two saves before it was third-time lucky.
Though one may debate whether it was an own goal, Doak got his reward for sending the ball into the danger area from close range and forcing goalkeeper Alez Padilla to flap in an attempt to parry it away.
Half-time: Liverpool 3-0 Athletic Club
Using the full bench in the second
One change preceded the start of the second, with Armin Pecsi replacing Woodman to defend the goal at the Kop end, with an early low save earning him the applause of the crowd.
Despite missing the majority of pre-season to date, Mac Allister covered the ground well in his 56 minutes on the pitch, breaking up play and showing he can be in contention for the Community Shield.
He was replaced by Wellity Lucky, which unleashed Nyoni into the midfield, as Jayden Danns took the place of Doak before the fourth goal of the afternoon was set in motion.
With a high starting position, Tsimikas took advantage of the space in front to find Nunez in the box, who in turn spun and found an unmarked Elliott to power the ball into the net.
Athletic were largely bystanders throughout as Liverpool recycled possession, and that did not change as Ngumoha and Nyoni were replaced by fellow academy players Trent Kone-Doherty and Tommy Pilling.
A rare venture forward for the visitors, though, did see Liverpool’s goal breached for the first time after a poorly timed headed clearance from Stephenson fell into the path of Gorka Guruzeta for an easy finish.
The busy half of changes continued as Lewis Koumas replaced Nunez, and the standing ovation will have left many questioning if it will be the last time we see him in a Liverpool shirt.
Not eager to leave midfielder Michael Laffey as the only unused substitute, the 19-year-old got his first taste of a packed Anfield minutes before the full-time whistle.
A valuable runout for the 18 players involved, with Slot’s strongest possible XI to follow in the evening kickoff – though fitness concerns linger over Stephenson and Nyoni.
Liverpool: Woodman (Pecsi 46′); Stephenson, Nyoni (Pilling 67′), Robertson, Tsimikas; Jones (Laffey 84′), Mac Allister (Lucky 56′), Elliott; Doak (Danns 56′), Ngumoha (Kone-Doherty 67′), Nunez (Koumas 80′)
Next match: Athletic Club (H) – Pre-Season Friendly – Monday, August 4, 8pm (BST)
