Kieran Morrison is among the Liverpool youngsters who’ll be striving to impress Andoni Iraola in pre-season, and it didn’t take the winger long to make his mark in the Reds’ first friendly of the summer.
The 19-year-old – who signed a long-term contract extension at Anfield two months ago – started on the right flank for LFC against Sunderland in Nashville, and he opened the scoring for his team inside the opening quarter-hour (which also saw Joe Gomez going off with a worrying injury).
In the 13th minute at Geodis Park, the Merseysiders sprung a lively counterattack as they worked the ball cleverly out from defence, with Rio Ngumoha releasing Harvey Elliott in the middle of the park.
Liverpool’s number 19 charged forward before laying the ball off to Morrison just outside the Black Cats’ penalty area, and the Northern Ireland international cut in from the right flank before arrowing a neat finish into the far corner of the Wearsiders’ net for the opening goal.
Enzo Le Fee later equalised for Sunderland with an emphatic finish from distance to ensure that the teams would go in at half-time level at 1-1.
With just two official senior appearances to his name so far, Morrison is highly unlikely to be viewed as the immediate right-sided replacement for Mo Salah in the Reds’ attack, despite that being his natural position.
However, in terms of making an impression on Iraola and staking a case for inclusion throughout the campaign, the youngster couldn’t have chosen a better way to go about it, finishing neatly less than 15 minutes into our first pre-season friendly.
The head coach will have been delighted with the intricate football in the lead-up to Morrison’s goal, with Lewis Steele lauding a ‘nice move’ and ‘lovely finish’ (via X) – less so with how nobody put pressure on Le Fee for Sunderland’s equaliser.
The opening 45 minutes will have provided the Basque with some valuable food for thought as he makes his first tentative steps into matchday as the man in charge of Liverpool.
You can view Morrison’s goal against Sunderland below, via @LFC on X:
A smart finish from Kieran 👏
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 25, 2026
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That is a nice impact from the academy prospect
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