NEW YORK: Xherdan Shaqiri scored on a spectacular bicycle kick in the 82nd minute, capping a three-goal second half for Liverpool in a 4-1 victory over Manchester United in the International Champions Cup on Saturday.
In one of four matches played in the United States leg of the pre-season tournament, Sadio Mane, Daniel Sturridge and Sheyi Ojo also scored for Liverpool at the Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor while Andreas Pereira provided a highlight for United when he scored on a well-placed free kick in the first half.
There was a better result for United’s local rivals Manchester City as they ended their three-match campaign at the Champions Cup on a high with a 3-2 victory against Bayern Munich but their evening was soured with an injury to new signing Riyad Mahrez.
City, who had lost their opening two matches, prevailed courtesy two goals from substitute Bernardo Silva and a strike from youngster Lukas Nmecha after they had fallen 2-0 behind in Miami.
A total of 18 teams are taking part in the sixth edition of the Champions Cup with matches being held in the US, Singapore and Europe. The teams are ranked based on their results from the three matches with the best-ranked team being crowned champions.
While Liverpool finished on six points, they have no chance of winning the tournament as they trail Borussia Dortmund who finished on seven. Dortmund can be usurped by Juventus (5), Barcelona (2) and Chelsea (2), who were all in action on Saturday.
Juve overcame Benfica 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey and with a penalty shootout win carrying two points, moved to within two of Dortmund with a game to play.
Barca and Chelsea both opened their campaigns with shootout victories. Barca triumphed 5-3 on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in Pasadena after their match ended in a 2-2 draw while Chelsea beat Inter Milan 5-4 in a shootout after they played out a 1-1 draw in the French city of Nice.
Both United and Liverpool weren’t at full strength, but the crowd of 101,254 didn’t seem to mind too much as a couple of sparkling goals made up for it.
Sadio Mane had given Liverpool the lead with a penalty just before the half-hour mark before Pereira equalised with a stunning free kick minutes later that went over the wall and into the top corner of the net.
Substitute Sturridge made it 2-1 after 66 minutes before Sheyi Ojo scored Liverpool’s second penalty of the game after Andrew Robertson went down in the box and Shaqiri, a recent signing from Stoke City, marked his Liverpool debut with a brilliant left-footed bicycle kick that made it 4-1.
After seeing his under-strength side torn apart by Liverpool, coach Jose Mourinho hit out at United’s transfer window inactivity.