Tranmere Rovers.........0

Liverpool FC.................4

Milner (pen) 34, Grujic 42, Chirivella 48, Woodburn 79 (pen) 

Jurgen Klopp’s talented Liverpool side put on an exhibition as they comfortably dispatched Tranmere Rovers in front of a bumper crowd at Prenton Park.

James Milner, Marko Grujic, Pedro Chirivella and Ben Woodburn provided the goals in a routine first pre-season outing for both sides that nevertheless brought some welcome gate revenue to the Birkenhead club.

Rovers handed a maiden start for new signing Ollie Norburn but other than that fielded a largely familiar starting XI.

Liverpool had Loris Karius in goal and welcomed back captain Jordan Henderson for his first appearance since February.

The Reds should have taken the lead in the first minute when Sheyi Ojo knocked the ball past the onrushing Scott Davies but with the goal at his mercy he could only shank it wide.

Rovers responded moments later when top scorer Andy Cook nodded a Jeff Hughes crossed just wide of Karius’ goal frame.

Liverpool then missed another golden opportunity as Joel Matip ballooned a James Milner corner over from six yards before Ojo saw another effort deflected wide.

Klopp’s superstars enjoyed the vast majority of possession for the opening 20-odd minutes, but they had to wait a while before Daniel Sturridge forced a low save out of Scott Davies with a long-range drive.

The visitors kept up the pressure with Davies spilling a cross-shot from Ojo before recovering the ball under the guard of Steve McNulty.

A fierce shot from Marko Grujic was then repelled by the busy Davies and when Sturridge looked certain to slot home the rebound, he was denied by a last ditch tackle from McNulty.

The constant pressure finally told in the 34th minute when Tranmere’s defence left their goalkeeper to deal with a ball that he would always be second best to and he inevitably ended up clattering Ojo in the penalty area.

Milner made no mistake from the resultant spot kick and nearly grabbed a second a minute later when he sent a curling right-foot effort just wide of the post.

The first half had been played almost exclusively in Tranmere’s own half but Jay Harris managed to poke one tame effort at the virtually redundant Karius seven minutes before the break.

The Reds extended their lead three minutes before the break when Grujic collected the ball 25 yards out and unleashed a magnificent strike into the top corner that gave the outstretched Davies no chance.

Both teams made changes at half time – Liverpool their entire personnel – but the outcome remained unaltered in its direction.

Former Liverpool youngster Jack Dunn fired a 30-yard free kick over for Rovers but the Reds extended their lead moments later when new boy Dominic Solanke forced another save out of Davies and the overworked stopper could not recover quick enough to deny Pedro Chirivella an easy goal.

It was a proving to be a tough old slog for non-league Rovers but substitute Andy Mangan almost capitalised on a mistake in the visitors’ defence from a Liam Ridehalgh free kick – however the ex-Shrewsbury striker could only fire an acute effort straight at Kamil Grabara.

A free kick from Ryan Kent was deflected over the Tranmere crossbar before new Rovers signing Elliot Rokka came on for his maiden appearance in place of co-debutant Norburn.

Klopp’s Champions League hopefuls notched their fourth of the night when Ben Woodburn was brought down in the box 11 minutes before time, before converting the penalty himself.

The match did little to offer an insight into how Rovers may fair in the forthcoming National League season but they certainly won’t be sniffing at the gate receipts.