Juniors

Summer Tour

Summer Lovin'
LFC's 2017 Pre-Season Tour

Pre-Season is a very important time for Jürgen Klopp and his players. It's a chance for the lads to get themselves fully fit after their summer holidays ahead of the new season and for the manager to try out new signings, new tactics and new formations. This year Liverpool FC have eight pre-season matches in four different countries so here is a handy guide to the Reds summer schedule...

Tranmere Rovers July 12th

Ben Woodburn buries a penalty against Tranmere Rovers

Liverpool FC's first Pre-Season game was over the River Mersey at Tranmere Rovers' Prenton Park.

Jürgen Klopp's team won the match 4-0 with James Milner, Marko Grujic, Pedro Chirivella and Ben Woodburn getting on the scoresheet.

Prenton Park is a familiar ground for lots of our players as Liverpool FC Under-23s played most of their home games there last season. We all know that LFC is 125 years old this year but Tranmere Rovers are even older – they were formed in 1884, making them 133 years old!

Wigan Athletic July 14th

Mo Salah celebrates his first goal for the Reds

Second up for the Reds on their Pre-Season tour was a trip down the M58 motorway to Wigan Athletic's DW Stadium. It was another good run-out for Jürgen Klopp's boys with Mohamed Salah on target on his debut as Liverpool FC settled for a 1-1 draw.

Wigan haven't been in the Premier League since 2013 and the last time the Reds played there in the league Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 Liverpool FC win! The DW Stadium is also home to Wigan Rugby League Club who play Super League games there with a funny-shaped ball!

Hong Kong July 19th & 22nd

Jordan Henderson lifts the Premier League Asia Trophy

Every two years the Premier League Asia Trophy is held in Kong Kong and this summer Liverpool FC were invited to take part.

Held in the Hong Kong International Stadium, the Reds also played in this tournament in 2007 and beat South China 3-1 – Xabi Alonso got one of the goals – before defeating Portsmouth on penalties in the final.

This year LFC beat fellow Premier League club Crystal Palace 2-0 in the semi-final, Dominic Solanke and Divock Origi both scoring, before defeating Leicester City 2-1 in the final with goals from Mo Salah and Philippe Coutinho to secure the trophy.

Hong Kong is over 6,000 miles away from Liverpool and it takes over 12 hours to fly there from the UK – the equivalent of about two full days in school!

Berlin July 29th

Olympiastadion, Berlin

Berlin is the capital of Germany and Liverpool FC agreed to play Hertha Berlin in their Olympiastadion this summer for a very special reason.

Both LFC and Hertha celebrate their 125 year anniversaries in 2017 and with the German club's birthday falling in July it was a double party!

It was the fourth time the Reds have played against Hertha in Berlin and Liverpool FC legend Robbie Fowler should remember the 1994 trip there – he scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win!

The 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France was held in Berlin's Olympiastadion and is famous for Zinedine Zidane getting sent off in his last game before retiring!

Munich August 1st & 2nd

Allianz Arena, Munich

The Audi Cup has been hosted every two years by Germany's Bayern Munich in their Allianz Arena since 2009 and this year the Reds are competing in it for the first time.

Liverpool FC take on Bayern Munich in a semi-final on day one and then play either Spain's Atletico Madrid or Italy's Napoli in the final or 3rd place play-off on day two.

It will be a tough tournament to win because Bayern Munich have won five German leagues in a row with Borussia Dortmund being the last team to stop them in 2012 when they were managed by Jürgen Klopp!

Bayern Munich moved to the Allianz Arena in 2005 and this will be LFC's first visit there but we could end up going back there later in the season in the Champions League.

Dublin August 5th

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

LFC's final summer tour stop is Ireland where the Redmen take on Spain's Athletic Bilbao in Dublin's Aviva Stadium.

The Reds have played friendlies here twice before – against Celtic in 2013 and Shamrock Rovers in 2015 – and the stadium holds over 50,000 fans!

You'll definitely hear 'The Fields of Anfield Road' being sung by Liverpool FC fans at this match as it is based on a famous Irish song called 'The Fields of Athenry'.

A week later Liverpool FC's Premier League season starts away at Watford so this is the final chance for Jürgen Klopp to get his players fit and ready for the big kick-off!