BOSTON: Alejandro Pozo delivered the late dagger in 10-man Sevilla’s 2-1 friendly win over Liverpool on Sunday, a defeat made worse for the European champions when they saw Yasser Larouci stretchered off.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was furious at Joris Gagnon’s outrageous kick at an on-rushing Larouci in the 76th minute. Gnagnon was shown a straight red card after sweeping one of the Frenchman’s legs out from underneath him, toppling him to the pitch where his head bounced hard on the ground.

“[It’s] much too early in the season to create headlines with saying the things I think about the situation,” Klopp said at his post-match press conference, where he added that it appeared that the 18-year-old Larouci was “lucky” in terms of avoiding serious injury.

“But of course, how it always is with these things we have to wait a little bit. I don’t know 100 percent. It looks like he was lucky but I only spoke quickly to the Doc and that’s what he said, but we have to see.”

Even with the La Liga outfit reduced to 10 men, Liverpool were unable find a way ahead, and Pozo sealed it in the 90th minute as he smoothly collected a pass from Munir El Haddadi, rounded Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet and knocked the winner into an unguarded net.

With temperatures in the mid-90s, a crowd of 35,654 filled almost every seat in Fenway Park — home of the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox., most of them dressed in red to support Liverpool. The Champions League winners and the Red Sox are both owned by groups led by financier John Henry, making the century-old ballpark seem like Liverpool’s Anfield.

Liverpool dominated early, but it was Sevilla that scored first when a ball deflected in the penalty area to Nolito, who made it 1-0 in the 37th minute. Divock Origi tied it in the 44th minute when a header deflected to him at the post and he buried it.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2019