Melbourne Victory 0 Liverpool 2 match report: Arsenal target Luis Suarez makes impact after coming off bench
Following £40m bid from Arsenal, the Uruguay striker shows his worth during pre-season friendly
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Luis Suarez was only on the pitch for 18 minutes, but the Uruguay striker was able to show exactly why Arsenal have just made a bid of £40m for his services.
The Uruguay international was named among the substitutes for this pre-season friendly against Melbourne Victory, and despite intense speculation over his future, little should be read into Brendan Rodgers' decision to start him on the bench. Suarez is lacking the same levels of fitness as his team-mates having joined up with the squad late due to his involvement in the Confederations Cup and was always unlikely to start.
Despite numerous press conferences in his native country earlier this summer in which he made clear he wanted a transfer, they appeared to have had little affect on Liverpool's fans in Australia. When he was shown on the big screens at the MCG, huge roars went up among the 95,000 in attendance.
There were more cheers when he finally made his appearance after 72 minutes, but not before a player whose loyalty to Liverpool is certainly not in question grabbed the limelight.
After dominating from the outset with numerous shots on goal, Liverpool broke the deadlock when captain Steven Gerrard fired in a powerful shot after 32 minutes to cap a sweeping move.
A tiring Melbourne did well to hold on for most of the second half as Liverpool made wholesale substitutions including the introduction of Suarez - put they finally cracked again just before full-time.
Suarez picked up a short corner on the byline before a cute turn took him past a Melbourne defender in typical style before his deft pass was tucked away by newly-signed striker Iago Aspas.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments