Updated / Sunday, 26 Jul 2026 11:28
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Joe Gomez went down injured early on
Liverpool's pre-season victory against Sunderland was overshadowed by an injury to Joe Gomez.
Goals from Kieran Morrison, Dominik Szoboszlai, Federico Chiesa and Lewis Koumas gave Liverpool a 4-2 win in the Nashville opener of their United States tour, with Timur Tutierov and Enzo le Fee replying for the Black Cats.
Gomez started the game as centre-back and captain, but his departure in the eighth minute added to Liverpool’s defensive issues with new signing Jeremy Jacquet rested after injury and Giovanni Leoni recovering following a long-term absence.
"Probably the worst news has been straight away the injury of Joe," Reds head coach Andoni Iraola was quoted as saying on liverpoolfc.com.
"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.
"With Jeremy, we decided to take it easy with him. 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 will play probably the last game of this US tour and he will have time to have minutes."
Iraola felt the performance gives Liverpool a platform from which to build on ahead of meeting Wrexham in New York and Leeds in Chicago.
He said: "A lot of things to correct, obviously, it’s the first day. You could feel the heavy legs, the players have been training.
"So, we lacked some freshness. But it will give us a good starting point to improve things."
Iraola confirmed that Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch are in Chicago following their post-World Cup breaks and will soon rejoin the squad.