SWINDON, ENGLAND - Sunday, August 2, 2015: Liverpool's Roberto Firmino apologises for not passing during a friendly match against Swindon at the County Ground. (Pic by Mark Hawkins/Propaganda)

Roberto Firmino hits hat-trick for Liverpool in Melwood friendly

Summer signing Roberto Firmino scored a hat-trick in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Welsh club TNS at the club’s training ground on Monday.

Football - Liverpool FC Preseason Tour 2015 - Swindon Town FC v Liverpool FC

The Brazil international is some weeks behind most of his team-mates in terms of fitness having joined pre-season late because of his participation in the Copa America.

Firmino was given his competitive debut with a 12-minute outing in Sunday’s 1-0 Premier League win at Stoke – but manager Brendan Rodgers felt the 23-year-old, signed from Hoffenheim for an initial £22 million with a potential £7 million of add-ons, and other players short on match practice needed extra work.

Those included Liverpool’s other goalscorers in a 5-1 win – Danny Ings and Lazar Markovic.

Emre Can, who also returned to Melwood later after playing in the European Under-21 Championships but played for 27 minutes at the Britannia Stadium, also featured along with Adam Bogdan, Lucas Leiva, Alberto Moreno, Divock Origi, Jordan Rossiter, Mamadou Sakho and Kolo Toure.

LFC XI: Bogdan; Markovic, Toure, Sakho, Moreno; Lucas, Rossiter, Can, Firmino; Origi, Ings.