Liverpool suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat in Spain on the evening of August 2, losing to Expanyol, and Reds boss Rafa Benitez spoke of his disappointment at the performance and team as a whole.

Espanyol's Ben Sahar scored a brace  in the second half to add to an early goal from Luis Garcia, the namesake of the former Liverpool player, as the 'Periquitos' celebrated the opening of their new Estadi Cornella-El Prat ground in style.
 
"The game was very important for them," Benitez told liverpoolfc.tv. "For us it was a friendly game, but you have to play with intensity in every match and you have to work harder than we did today."
 
"For 25 minutes in the first half we were more or less okay, but for the rest of the game they were on top of us, winning every second ball and challenge. You cannot win these kind of games if you don't work harder.
 
"I don't think it was a problem of one or two players, I think the team as a whole were not working hard enough," said the Reds boss.

Meanwhile a meeting was conducted on August 2 in Barcelona between Liverpool officials and Real Madrid's Jose Angel Sanchez, the club's executive director-general, in order to resolve the lingering issue of Xabi Alonso.

Benitez appears to have accepted the idea that the player wants to leave - his relationship with the midfielder strained ever since he tried to offload Alonso to Juventus last season - and now the only hurdle remaining before the transfer is the fee Liverpool are demanding. Several media reports have indicated that Real are not prepared to pay 30 million pounds, but are prepared to make an improved offer, possibly up to 28 million pounds plus a player in exchange.

While negotiations were being conducted, Alonso still made a brief appearance for Liverpool against Espanyol. His seemingly inevitable departure will come as a shock, but Benítez has stated in English media that his contribution to Liverpool's title bid last season has been slightly overrated and that should the midfielder depart, he will not be missed as much as some sections of the club's support believe.

According to the Times of London, Benitez has expressed particular interest in Alberto Aquilani, the Roma midfield player, and Lee Cattermole, of Wigan Athletic, as well as Javier Martínez, of Athletic Bilbao. Reports in Italy, late on August 2, claimed that a bid of 17.9 million pounds sterling had been registered with Roma for Aquilani (25) but Liverpool officials insisted that no such deal had been made.