Liverpool’s record signing Florian Wirtz made his first start for his new club as Arne Slot’s side were beaten 4-2 by AC Milan at a sold-out Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong.

However, there was no place for Darwin Nunez or Luiz Diaz in the Reds squad amid speculation they could leave following the arrival of Hugo Ekitike and the pursuit of Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak.

Liverpool legend Sir Kenny Dalglish laid a wreath of flowers before kick-off and the players had ‘Diogo J 20’ on their shirts in tribute to their former team-mate Diogo Jota, who died in a car accident as he and his brother Andre Silva drove through the Spanish province of Zamora earlier this month.

The Premier League champions dominated the opening 10 minutes but it was the Italian side who opened the scoring when a counter-attack ended with Rafael Leao smashing past Alisson Becker.

Dominik Szoboszlai equalised with a fine curling strike into the top corner of Mike Maignan’s goal from the edge of the box.

England midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek restored Milan’s lead early in the second half as the Reds were again caught short at the back and Noah Okafor made it 3-1 with a brilliant finish beyond Liverpool’s new Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Cody Gakpo pulled one back in added time with a header from Ibrahima Konate’s pinpoint ball into the box but an awful mix-up between Mamardashvili and Kostas Tsimikas allowed Okafor to net his second.

Liverpool now travel to Japan and will play Yokohama F. Marinos on Wednesday.