Daniel Farke didn't hold back. The Leeds United manager sparked controversy with angry remarks after his side's 4-2 victory over Liverpool wrapped up their pre-season tour of the United States, fuming that his team weren't handed the tournament trophy despite finishing top of the standings.
Leeds rounded off their American tour with a deserved 4-2 win over Liverpool in Chicago, turning a deficit into a comfortable victory on the back of a strong second-half display.
Two wins from the mini-tournament, a previous victory over Sunderland alongside the Liverpool result, saw off a single defeat to Wrexham. That left Leeds as the best British team in the competition.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin grabbed two of the goals, with Brenden Aaronson and Sean Longstaff adding the others.
Yet topping the tournament earned Leeds no cup, no shield, nothing. And that left their manager seething.
Farke said in remarks after the match: "We won this tournament, and to be honest I wanted to get the trophy."
He added jokingly: "Especially here in the United States, where it seems everyone gets a cup or a prize regardless of the result."
"I feel a little annoyed, but jokes aside, this tour could not have ended in a better way than this," he continued.
High praise for Leeds' players
The German heaped praise on his players for the effort they'd shown throughout pre-season, saying: "The players did a huge job. They spent three consecutive weeks without a day off, around two of them in the United States."
"Against Liverpool we had more of the ball, we had a greater number of shots on target, and we also had far more corners and set pieces," he added.
"We thoroughly deserved to win the match, especially after the wonderful performance we produced in the second half, so the players deserve all the praise," he affirmed.
He went on: "We came away with a lot of positives, not only from this match, but from the entire pre-season tour."
Wrapping up, he said: "We will now return to the United Kingdom, and perhaps we will get a day or two to recover, then we begin preparing for the next stage."
Next up for Leeds is a home friendly against RB Leipzig on Saturday, the final phase of their preparation programme before the new season kicks off.
Liverpool suffer first blow of the preparation period
For Liverpool, this was a first defeat of the summer, arriving after back-to-back wins over Sunderland and Wrexham.
Their movements in the transfer market have drawn less media clamour than last season, despite the departure of several big names, chief among them Egyptian star Mohamed Salah.
Andrew Robertson left for Tottenham too, while French defender Ibrahima Konate moved to Real Madrid.
Liverpool responded by signing Jeremie Frimpong and Victor Munoz, part of their build-up to challenging on multiple fronts, the UEFA Champions League chief among them.