Liverpool’s third pre-season match of the summer, held in Hong Kong, offered a first proper opportunity to see Florian Wirtz in action after being included in the starting lineup. In an unconventional approach, manager Arne Slot deployed the 22-year-old attacking midfielder in a false nine role at Kai Tak Sports Park, a position Wirtz is not primarily known for but has adapted to previously.<\/p>\n
Throughout the match, Wirtz showcased his versatility by frequently dropping deep to retrieve the ball, operating between the lines, and advancing aggressively toward the penalty area. His presence sparked anticipation each time he received possession, demonstrating excellent touches and vision in the final third.<\/p>\n
An early highlight was Wirtz’s setup for Mohamed Salah shortly after Milan’s opener, though the potential assist was thwarted when Salah attempted a selfless pass back to Wirtz. Later, Wirtz nearly released Harvey Elliott with a precise through ball, only for Elliott to be unable to reach it. This moment underscored Wirtz’s key attributes: his ability to evade defenders and quickly accelerate into attacking spaces.<\/p>\n
Wirtz was substituted at half-time but left a positive impression, completing 91% of his 32 passes and registering 36 touches. His sharp link-up play excited supporters and suggested promising integration into Liverpool’s squad. Fans can anticipate seeing more of Wirtz soon as Liverpool prepare for their next friendly against Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan on July 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Florian Wirtz impressed in Liverpool’s friendly against Milan, showing skill as a false nine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[206,178],"class_list":["post-641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","tag-florian-wirtz","tag-friendly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}