Jurgen Klopp saw his Liverpool side record a comprehensive win over La Liga giants Barcelona in their penultimate pre-season clash.
By far the Reds’ most high-profile outing of the summer, Saturday’s International Champions Cup clash with the La Liga giants saw Wembley Stadium packed to the rafters with red shirts.
Responding in turn, Klopp named a near full-strength side, including summer signings Ragnar Klavan, Georginio Wijnaldum and Sadio Mane.
Luis Enrique’s Barcelona side was also a star-studded one, including Lionel Messi and former Reds duo Javier Mascherano and Luis Suarez.
Dominating from the first whistle, Liverpool’s fluid attacking line was supported by hardworking midfield of Wijnaldum, Adam Lallana and Emre Can.
It was Mane who got the Reds off to the perfect start on 16 minutes, slotting the ball past Marc-Andre ter Stegen after great work from Lallana and Roberto Firmino.
This marked Mane’s first goal in a Liverpool shirt, with Klopp hoping for many more from his new £30 million man.
Suarez and Messi began the impose themselves on proceedings as the half wore on, with the Uruguayan in particular proving a threat to Simon Mignolet‘s goal.
But the Belgian, who has been handed a great opportunity to impress following injury to Loris Karius, was in impressive form, with a late save to deny Suarez from point-blank range.
Klopp made a number of changes at half-time, following James Milner‘s withdrawal four minutes before the break, with the German bringing on Kevin Stewart, Jordan Henderson and Divock Origi.
Origi, Mane and Henderson worked well to notch Liverpool’s second goal of the afternoon, with Mascherano sending the ball past Claudio Bravo when under pressure from the Reds captain.
Origi made it 3-0 shortly after, sending a composed finish into the back of the net after an excellent through from Kevin Stewart.
And with the game dying out in the closing stages, two more substitutes, Lazar Markovic and Marko Grujic combined for a sensational fourth, with the latter looping a header into the top corner on the stretch.
In front of the second-largest Wembley crowd in history, Liverpool sealed an excellent victory, and can now head to Mainz for Sunday’s final pre-season friendly buoyed by their performance.
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