Star signing Charlie Adam opened his goalscoring account for Liverpool as the Reds beat a Malaysia XI 6-3 in a friendly match in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
Liverpool, who kicked off their Asian tour in China three days ago, looked rusty early on at Malaysia’s biggest football ground, the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
Drawing 1-1 at the break, manager Kenny Dalglish’s decision to change his entire line-up for the second half paid dividends as the Reds gave the 80,000-strong crowd their money’s worth.
Adam celebrated his full debut for Liverpool by giving them the lead from a hotly disputed penalty 24 minutes into the game, but then gave away the free-kick from which Malaysian skipper Shafiq Rahim equalised with an exquisite shot from 30 yards.
“It feels great to score my first goal, or should I say two, as the referee made me take the penalty twice and I scored both times,” joked Adam, the former Blackpool skipper.
“I’ve got to thank Joe Cole as he was supposed to take the penalty but he gave the ball to me instead. It was a tough match and the Malaysian boys gave us a good fight.”
Adam, who signed for the Reds from Blackpool last week, dominated the midfield in the opening 45 minutes and created numerous chances for his team-mates, all of which went begging.
However, French striker David Ngog came on to continue his rich vein of pre-season form, grabbing two goals in as many minutes mid-way through the second half to give Liverpool a 3-1 lead.
He first pounced on an error by Mohamad Fadhli Mohamad Shas to prod the ball home from close range in the 67th minute, before adding the second from the edge of the box.
Argentine winger Maxi Rodriguez made it 4-1 on the 74th minute, but Malaysia’s top striker, Mohamad Safee Mohamad Sali, came off the bench to score twice to narrow the gap.
The forward first pounced on an error by substitute goalkeeper Martin Hansen in the 79th minute and made it 4-3 with a another close-range effort two minutes later.
Rodriguez, however, nodded in from close range from a Dirk Kuyt cross in the 90th minute before Kuyt burst through the Malaysian defence in injury time to make the final score 6-3.
“After that performance, I think they will be inviting us back again. We said we wanted to entertain the crowd and I think we did just that,” Liverpool assistant manager Steve Clarke said.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish left the team’s Malaysia tour early and returned to England to finalise the signing of England winger Stewart Downing from Aston Villa.
Downing completed his transfer to Liverpool on Friday after passing a medical, becoming Dalglish’s fourth major signing of the summer following midfielder Jordan Henderson, Adam and goalkeeper Alexander Doni.
This is Liverpool’s first trip to Malaysia. They began their Asian tour with a 4-3 victory over China’s Guangdong Sunray Cave on Wednesday.