Liverpool player ratings, winners and losers vs Real Betis as Dominik Szoboszlai impresses

ACRISURE STADIUM, PITTSBURGH – Liverpool began its pre-season with a 1-0 victory over La Liga team Real Betis on Friday night local time. Dominik Szoboszlai was a good performer, while Mohamed Salah also looked quite lively.

Szoboszlai's good finish into the far corner opened the scoring in the first half and the Hungary captain was impressive throughout his time on the field. Trey Nyoni also did well, though his introduction coming because of an injury to Curtis Jones was far from ideal.

Playing a kind of 4-4-2 formation, with Szoboszlai and Harvey Elliott down the middle, it was an experimental line-up from Arne Slot in his first proper friendly. When more senior attacking options return, though, he might opt to go with a more conventional 4-3-3. Liverpool.com runs through the match takeaways below...

READ MORE: 5 things learned vs Real Betis as Harvey Elliott plays new Liverpool role and Trey Nyoni shines
READ MORE: Curtis Jones suffers injury scare during Liverpool friendly vs Real Betis

Winners

Szoboszlai looked refreshed and that is a big, big boost for a player who has looked exhausted for a large part of 2024 to date. If Slot can get a fresh version of the Hungarian talisman, that will be like a new signing at the start of the new season. Jarell Quansah looked very assured too while Salah was not scintillating, but was a solid enough performer.

Losers

The main worry will be about the injury to Jones . Liverpool fans will hope that it was only a precaution but it was enough to play it safe, at the very least. Jones needs an injury-free campaign to establish himself in the side and show exactly what he can do. This wasn't an ideal start and he looked frustrated as he pointed to the area of discomfort.

Sepp van den Berg looked a little shaky in possession while Fabio Carvalho didn't have a huge impact. Neither did anything particularly bad but they fall into the category of needing to impress the most this summer to climb up the pecking order. That didn't happen here, it would be fair to say.

Liverpool player ratings vs Real Betis

Caoimhin Kelleher (n/a). The goalkeeper barely had anything to do here other than casually walk across to collect the ball for a goal kick or play a simple pass to a defender. Very easy for him in the 45 minutes that he played.

Conor Bradley (6). Got into a couple of nice positions in the final third because of his willingness to run and open up the pitch. Defensively solid in the main but Real Betis didn't offer a great deal of threat. Could maybe have been a bit more decisive in the opposition penalty area.

Sepp van den Berg (5). Decent enough but not particularly spectacular in possession, where he struggled a couple of times when under pressure. He was better than the last time most Liverpool fans will have seen him, but comfortably below Quansah's level.

Jarell Quansah (6). Much better on the ball than his center-back partner. Quansah looked really assured and very much like a player confident that the shirt is his at the moment. Ibrahima Konate will need to win it back from him.

Kostas Tsimikas (6). Didn't have loads of touches and only got involved when he needed to. There wasn't much in the way of defending and most of the attacks came centrally or down the right.

Wataru Endo (5). Not the best in possession and picked up a yellow card for stopping a promising attack. Not the best outing from the Japanese, who looked a bit sluggish.

Curtis Jones (6). It was all going so well until he picked up what appeared to be a hamstring injury . Jones had looked really sharp up to that point in the game and just needs to hope that it isn't anything serious.

Mohamed Salah (6). A quiet-ish outing for him in a friendly that didn't have loads of action. Enough to suggest that he will be sharp come the opening day of the proper soccer, though.

Dominik Szoboszlai (7). He won't have played as a false nine very often in his career and he might never do it again. He did score a very nice goal, though, and looked sharp and full of energy. That has to be promising when he looked so jaded in the second half of his debut campaign at Anfield.

Harvey Elliott (6). He looked a bit lost playing through the middle of the attack but it is a very unfamiliar role. He looked a lot more comfortable when drifting out wide.

Fabio Carvalho (5). Pretty quiet, in truth. There is a player that can be unlocked and he clearly has talent but he lacks the pace to play wide really effectively for a Liverpool team that needs explosiveness in those areas.

Substitutes

30' to 71' Trey Nyoni (7). Involved in the move that led to the opening goal almost as soon as he came on around the hour mark; this was a very impressive performance from the young man. It was telling, you could say, that he entered the field ahead of Stefan Bajcetic and Tyler Morton . His passes through the lines were the sign of a confident 17-year-old.

45' Viteszlav Jaros (6). Like Kelleher, he didn't have a great deal to do. He did make an important intervention when he was forced to rush out of his box and make a tackle early on, but he did well and anticipated it. About 25 minutes later, he made a good save when Liverpool was opened up for the first time — just after the wholesale changes were made.

45' Tyler Morton (6). Neat and tidy, as he so often is for Liverpool. It will be a battle to get regular minutes at Anfield next season but Morton is a player who deserves the chance to play every week.

63' Ben Doak (6). There was one strong run when he came on but that led to nothing in the end. Aside from that, it was a relatively low-key outing for the Scotland winger. He is 100 per cent over his injuries, though, and ready to kick on.

63 ' Stefan Bajcetic (6). Kept things simple and similar to Morton really: always good value on the ball. He didn't have much to do apart from play a few passes.

63' Owen Beck (6). Didn't get involved a great deal and had next to nothing to do defensively. Looked fit and sharp but didn't get a chance to show much of what he can offer going forward.

63' Kaide Gordon (6). Had one half-chance when the ball fell to him from an angle but he could only squeeze that wide. Physically, he looks like a completely different player to the one that arrived from Derby County a couple of years ago.

63' Luca Stephenson (6). Didn't touch the ball that much at right-back, which isn't his best position. Solid enough outing and he can be pleased with his showing.

63' Nat Phillips (6). This is surely the last pre-season that Phillips will play at Liverpool. He really needs a move and is a long way down the pecking order now, as evidenced by the fact that Van den Berg was preferred to him.

63' Luke Chambers (6). Made an important challenge on two or three occasions and was unfortunate to give away a soft foul. One to watch when he goes to Wigan Athletic on loan again next season.

63' Harvey Blair (6). Bright and quick playing down the middle. A talented player who should have a good career ahead of him in the EFL.

63' Lewis Koumas (6). Didn't have many touches but we know how good a finisher he is. He should get more chances this summer against Arsenal and Manchester United.