Liverpool Pre-Season Friendly Ends in Injury

A bruising pre-season workout at the AXA Training Centre ended without a goal – but nobody watching will remember the scoreline.

They’ll remember Alberto Dossena’s finger.

Liverpool named a strong XI for the 70-minute behind-closed-doors clash, with Alexis Mac Allister, Federico Chiesa and Kostas Tsimikas all involved against a well-drilled Como side determined to make the most of the test.

The game itself refused to catch fire. Liverpool probed, Como held firm, and the rhythm rarely rose above controlled sparring. Then came the moment that jolted everyone.

Dossena attacked an aerial ball under pressure from James McConnell and Will Wright, landed awkwardly, and immediately knew something was wrong. Cameras picked up the aftermath in brutal detail: a severely dislocated finger, shown in a close-up that forced LFCTV commentators to apologise to viewers watching at home.

For a few seconds, the football stopped mattering.

Medical staff from Como rushed on, treating the 27-year-old on the pitch before bandaging the damaged hand. It looked like the end of his afternoon, and no one would have questioned him for walking straight down the tunnel.

He didn’t.

Strapped up and still clearly in discomfort, Dossena came back on and played out the final six minutes of the shortened contest, throwing himself into his defensive work and helping Como see out a clean sheet against a Liverpool side stacked with quality.

No goals. No breakthrough. Just a pre-season friendly on paper.

In reality, it turned into a stark reminder of the thin line players tread every time they go up for a ball – and the kind of stubborn resilience managers quietly love to see as a new campaign looms.