Liverpool’s latest pre-season friendly did not quite go to plan, as the Merseyside outfit lost 4-3 to Hertha Berlin.
Despite the loss, there were still positives to take as two very familiar faces returned to action for Liverpool in yesterday’s pre-season friendly.
Virgil van Dijk (285) and Joe Gomez (259) came back off an injury lay-off that ruled them out for a combined 544 days.
While van Dijk was out because of an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury he suffered against Everton last October, his defensive partner Gomez suffered a knee injury while on duty with England.
The void that they left in the heart of the defence was definitely felt as the then defending champions struggled with their lineups often.
The Reds had ended up fielding a whopping twenty different centre-back pairings when the season finished back in May.
Regardless of the result, Liverpool fans will be happy to have their first-choice centre-back pairing back and available, as Jürgen Klopp’s team aim to launch the title defence that went missing last season.
After months of hard work together, back on the pitch together 🙌
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 29, 2021
A fitting moment ❤️ pic.twitter.com/l6WleegrRQ