Star signing Charlie Adam opened his account with a goal for Liverpool as the Reds beat Malaysia 6-3 Saturday, scoring five times in the second half after a sluggish start to the friendly.
Liverpool, who kicked off their Asian tour in China three days ago, made 11 changes to their line-up after the break, and it paid dividends as they gave the 80,000-strong crowd at Malaysias biggest football stadium, the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, their moneys 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 (27 metres).
Adam, who signed for the Reds a week ago, dominated the midfield in the opening 45 minutes and created numerous chances for his teammates, all of which went begging.
"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 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."
French striker David Ngog, who replaced Andy Carroll after the break, scored two in as many minutes to give Liverpool a 3-1 lead before Argentine winger Maxi Rodriguez made it 4-1 in the 74th minute.
Malaysias top striker Mohamad Safee Mohamad Sali then scored his own brace to narrow the gap.
Rodriguez, however, nodded in from close range off a Dirk Kuyt cross in the 90th minute, and 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 Jordan Henderson, Adam and Alexander Doni.
"There will be some players who will be elated that we scored three times against a top club but others will be sad we conceded six times. There were sloppy goals and I'm not too happy about that," Malaysian coach K. Rajagopal.
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| Charlie Adam |
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| Joe Cole |
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