Here is a challenge for the forthcoming football season which will test your powers of recall to their limit: try to remember this summer’s friendly matches. This can be a difficult task, even in a timespan measured in hours.

Liverpool and Athletic Bilbao will kick-off at 17:00 BST, before facing each other again at 20:00 after a bit of a breather and a debrief. The Reds won games against Preston, Stoke City and Yokohama FM in July, but lost to AC Milan.

ANFIELD had to be evacuated just minutes before Liverpool’s pre-season friendlies with Athletic Bilbao. The Reds welcomed the Spanish big boys to their famous home on Monday for a rare