Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has expressed his delight at the return of “tag team” Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez for Liverpool.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin said: “It was a nice moment to see them come on,” he said. “It took my mind off the fact it was red hot and I was blowing out my backside! It was nice to clap them on, I am absolutely delighted for them. I know full well what they have been through, to an extent. Everyone’s journey is different but I know how much hard work they have put in. They have been a little tag team, helping each other through. So to see them coming back at the same time, I’m absolutely delighted. They have been really good in training, looked really sharp, obviously now it’s the fitness and durability they will build on. It’s a massive, massive asset for us to have back on the pitch and in and around the team as well because they are two characters that are massive for us.”
In an entertaining friendly, Oxlade-Chamberlain scored two minutes from time but Hertha held on for a victory having twice gone two goals ahead. Santiago Ascacibar and Suat Serdar scored inside 31 minutes for the Bundesliga side, only for goals from Sadio Mane and Takumi Minamino to level matters by half-time. Liverpool dominated the second half but were undone by a brace from former Manchester City striker Stevan Jovetic.
And assessing the game, Oxlade-Chamberlain said: “It was good and bad. In spells we controlled the game well and played some nice football, but at times we made some mistakes and weren’t quite good enough. They are a good team and punished us. There was some good stuff to take and we are still building up, but we need to be more consistent during the games and more resilient as we get closer to the season. We have to keep improving as we definitely have more work to come.”
