USA international Christian Pulisic came off the bench to inspire Borussia Dortmund to a 3-1 victory over Liverpool in their International Champions Cup match at the Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina this evening.
Virgil van Dijk scored the only goal of an uneventful first half to send Liverpool into the break with the lead, but a string of half-time changes resulted in more action and ultimately saw Dortmund come from behind to win.
Rumoured Liverpool transfer target Pulisic scored twice - with a contentious penalty and then a clinical finish late on - before setting up a third goal for Jacob Bruun Larsen in stoppage time as Dortmund claimed a second Premier League scalp in the space of less than 48 hours.
A quiet start to the match saw the best chance of the opening stages come from 45 yards out when Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius was almost guilty of another error, coming off his line to sweep up the danger but giving the ball straight to Maximilian Philipp.
Philipp immediately looked to catch Karius out of position from just inside the Liverpool half, but with the goal gaping he dragged his effort wide of the target when he perhaps should have done better.
There was a blow for Liverpool midway through the first half when Joel Matip - who has only recently returned from injury - limped off with what looked like a thigh problem, being replaced at the heart of the defence by Joe Gomez.
It was the other centre-back who would prove to be the difference in the first half, though, with Van Dijk taking advantage of some non-existent Dortmund defending to power a header from Andrew Robertson's cross past Marwin Hitz.
Any hopes that the first goal would help to open up the game proved unfounded, but a string of changes at the interval - which saw Liverpool bring on eight players and Dortmund nine - increased the quality levels on show in Charlotte.
James Milner took the armband for Liverpool and almost doubled his side's lead 11 minutes after the restart when he curled an effort towards the top corner, only to see it fly narrowly over the crossbar with the goalkeeper beaten.
Daniel Sturridge then dragged another long-range effort harmlessly wide of the target before Dominic Solanke missed a golden opportunity to get his name on the scoresheet, planting a header wide of the target after Milner had stood the ball up into the middle.
Liverpool's pressure continued to grow, though, and Sheyi Ojo should have added a second shortly after the hour mark when he was slipped clean through on goal, only to see his finish saved by the feet of Hitz and bounce up against the crossbar before the ball was cleared away off the head of Naby Keita from the rebound.
The Reds were made to rue that missed chance just two minutes later as Pulisic skipped into the box before going down under the challenge of Ragnar Klavan, who could do little to avoid the contact but was still penalised by the referee.
Pulisic dusted himself off to take the spot kick and made no mistake from 12 yards, with the American-born attacker putting his effort straight down the middle.
Ben Woodburn and Gomez both failed to make the most of half-chances for Liverpool to regain their lead, and just when it looked as though the match would go to penalties, Pulisic stepped up a gear to take the game away from Jurgen Klopp's side.
The 19-year-old doubled his personal tally at the end of a sweeping counter-attack which saw Marcel Schmelzer burst down the left flank before playing the ball inside for Pulisic, who drilled his finish into the bottom corner past a helpless Karius.
The alleged Liverpool target was not done there, though, and he made another break forward in stoppage time before cutting inside and unleashing a shot which Karius could only parry into the path of Larsen, who made no mistake with his rebound despite an attempted last-ditch challenge from Gomez.
The final scoreline was harsh on a Liverpool side that could have given themselves a two-goal cushion moments before conceding the equaliser, and they will now look to bounce back when they face Premier League champions Manchester City in New Jersey on Thursday.
Dortmund, meanwhile, have now won both of their matches in this year's International Champions Cup and could finish the pre-season tournament with a 100% record if they also beat Benfica in Pennsylvania next week.
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Karius; Clyne (Phillips (62'), Matip (Gomez 22'), Van Dijk (Klavan 46'), Robertson (Moreno 46'); Lallana (Milner 46'), Fabinho (Keita 46'), Jones (Woodburn 46'); Camacho (Ojo 46'), Origi (Sturridge 46'), Markovic (Solanke 46')
BORUSSIA DORTMUND (4-5-1): Hitz; Toljan (Bockhorn 46'), Diallo (Pieper 46'), Zagadou, Dieckmann (Schmelzer 46'); Wolf (Pulisic 46'), Boadu (Gomez 46'), Sahin (Burnic 46'), Dahoud (Gotze 46'), Sancho (Larsen 46'); Philipp (Isak 46')
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