Los Angeles: American international Christian Pulisic’s brace helped Borussia Dortmund beat Liverpool 3-1 in an International Champions Cup friendly in North Carolina, Saturday. Meanwhile, Manchester United had another tough outing as they were held goalless, their second successive draw in North American pre-season tour, by the San Jose Earthquakes.
With Mohamed Salah, Georginio Wijnaldum and Sadio Mane sitting out it was an inexperienced Liverpool side that took to the field at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Netherlands international Virgil van Dijk opened the scoring for the Reds in the 25th minute with a perfectly timed leaping header off a long cross from Andrew Robertson.
Dortmund’s best chance to score in the first half was a sharp angle shot by Marius Wolf that Liverpool keeper Loris Karius easily handled. Both teams swapped out several players to begin the second half which brought the German side to life.
Liverpool’s Sheyi Ojo had a chance to pad the lead on a solo opportunity in the 64th minute but his shot deflected off goalkeeper Marwin Hitz and then bounced off the crossbar.
That helped set the stage for Pulisic’s heroics as he restored parity in the 66th minute on a penalty conversion. He put the German club ahead in the 89th minute.
Pulisic almost completed the hat-trick in the 93rd minute but his blast from close range was stopped and the rebound went to teammate Jacob Bruun Larsen who deposited it into the empty net.
In other game at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, Man U, after playing out a 1-1 stalemate on the tour opener, had the services of Alexis Sanchez who missed the last game due to visa issues.
But in hot conditions before a sparse crowd, United created few chances, and saw Antonio Valencia limp off with an apparent calf injury less than 10 minutes in. In spite of some nervy moments and both side creating some good scoring chances, the match remained goalless.