Jürgen Klopp musters new lactate test winner ‘James Milner Award’ – Liverpool FC

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Liverpool’s annual pre-season lactate test has produced a new winner, with Jurgen Klopp dubbing it the ‘James Milner Award’.

In the absence of Milner, who won the fitness test in each of his eight seasons at the club, new players had to apply.

Joe Gomez, who gave Milner a run for his money last year, led Saturday’s first lactate test among a smaller group of players, with Darwin Nunez also impressing.

But with the return of 14 senior players on Tuesday, all eyes were on who would step up.

Split into two groups, the first group of seven saw Mohamed Salah, Jordan Henderson and youngster Connor Bradley finish third – with Salah eventually edging out the others.

“The James Milner Award Goes To…!” Klopp announced that Salah is finished.

Considering the Egyptians’ supreme devotion to fitness, this should come as no surprise.

Explained: What is pre-season lactate testing and why do Liverpool do it?

In the other group, made up of six seniors, it was freshman Dominic Zuboszlai who finished first in the group, beating out fellow freshman Alexis McAlister, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cody Gakbo, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota.

Diaz and Jacobo finished in the top three in that group behind the Reds’ new No. 8.

And Szoboszlai appears to be a perfect fit under Jurgen Klopp’s management, as he stated afterwards: “[It was] Really hard, but really good. I love running! “

Whether it was a bit of irony or not, the new signing certainly impressed on his first day and those words will be music to Jurgen’s ears!

Liverpool took all their players back to the Aksa Training Center for the first time on Wednesday, where McAllister and Szoboszlai met their new team-mates and coaching staff.

The team will spend the rest of the week in Kirkby, before flying to Germany on Saturday for pre-season training camp in the Black Forest.

The Reds’ first friendly will be played against Karlsruher next Wednesday.

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