Liverpool FC played the second match of their pre-season tour against Melbourne Victory in front of 95,446 crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
Captain Steven Gerrard, who missed the end of last season with a shoulder injury, scored in the 32nd minute and a late Iago Aspas tap-in sealed an encouraging 2-0 win for the Kops in Australia.
With new signing Kolo Toure and Philippe Coutinho out of the friendly encounter, Luis Suarez was among the wholesale changes made in the second-half by manager Brendan Rodgers.
The first 15 minutes of the encounter was played in a friendly manner before Rahim Sterlin sliced a 25-yard effort wide. Andrew Nabbout unsuccessfully tested Reds’ goalkeeper Brad Jones but it was Gerrard that proved the first salient point in the encounter.
Joe Allen surged through midfield and showed patience before sliding a pinpoint pass through to the onrushing skipper, allowing him to calmly tuck the ball into the corner from 12-yards.
Liverpool continued to press for goal and almost increased the tally before the interval.
The Reds started the second-half with the same burning desire for goals they had displayed in the first. Two minutes into the last 45 minutes, Martin Skrtel glanced a Gerrard corner with a looping header that forced keeper Nathan Coe to tip the ball over the bar.
Getting to the hour mark, the attacking prowess of both team dulled down, before Italian Fabio Borini came close to scoring a vicious volley from outside the box that Coe did well to smother.
The home side immediately replied with Connor Pain slamming a swerving left-footed drive that forced Australian keeper Jones into an unconventional save, parrying the ball away.
Rodgers soon decided to bring in fresher legs to keep up with the pace and not long after, Aspas concluded scoring for Liverpool in stoppage time with a simple tap-in, following trademark trickery from the controversial Uruguayan Suarez.
Up next will be the tour of Thailand, where Liverpool will play Thailand XI on Sunday.
