Video Highlights of Liverpool's Preseason Friendly vs. Melbourne Victory

Liverpool's preseason reached a new high on Wednesday when over 95,000 fans packed into the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch the Reds' friendly with A-League side Melbourne Victory.

As ever with Liverpool these days, the name of Luis Suarez was never far away from the lips of all who attended, and the Uruguayan played the final 20 minutes or so to complete his first appearance for the club since the infamous bite on Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic at the tail end of last season.

Suarez skilfully set up Iago Aspas for the Reds’ second goal in their 2-0 win, with the Spaniard adding to Steven Gerrard’s first half strike to complete a third preseason win from three games for the Reds this summer―all without conceding a goal.

That isn’t to say that the Victory didn’t trouble the Reds, with the young Australian side causing their visitors more than a few problems throughout the game.

Liverpool started with a young front three of Raheem Sterling, Fabio Borini and Jordon Ibe, and it was Sterling and Ibe who looked the most threatening in the opening stages, with the former twice seeing efforts flash wide.

Australian goalkeeper Brad Jones was enjoying performing in one of his country’s most iconic sporting venues, and he was required to make a smart save when Reds fan Andrew Nabbout escaped away from Jose Enrique and struck a low shot.

The Reds appeared to be just going through the motions for the majority of the first half, but as ever it was Gerrard who increased the tempo.

A dummy from the Liverpool captain the centre of the field opened up space for Joe Allen, and as the Welshman drove towards the Melbourne defence an opportunity presented itself.

Allen, who has been impressive in preseason as he returns from injury, played a reverse pass into the centre of the penalty area, and when the ball eluded Borini, Gerrard was arriving in typical style to slot home a shot into the corner of the net.

Gerrard and Sterling had further chances before half-time, and Brendan Rodgers chose to send out the same team for the second half in contrast to the Reds’ friendlies so far this summer.

The tempo was again a slow one as the match descended into an exhibition, but the young Melbourne side were more than holding their own against their illustrious visitors.

Borini looked desperate for a goal, and he sent a fine overhead kick narrowly wide of the post, whilst he also saw an effort well saved by home goalkeeper Nathan Coe.

At the other end, Jones had to be alert to deal with what the Melbournians were throwing at the Reds, but the visiting defence was largely comfortable long before Gerrard was replaced by Lucas Leiva just after the hour mark to a huge standing ovation.

The remainder of the Liverpool changes were made with around 20 minutes remaining, with amateur body language experts able to study the movements of Suarez in his first appearance since this summer’s Confederations Cup.

The forward was certainly lacklustre, and barely raised a smile throughout his time on the pitch.

Whether or not that is an indicator of his desire to leave remains to be seen, but he showed his importance to the side with the piece of skill he produced to set up Aspas’ goal.

After Coe had saved a header from Daniel Agger, Suarez picked up the ball on the right of the penalty area, twisted and turned his way into a good position and put a chance on a plate for Aspas, who couldn’t miss from a yard out.

It confirmed a win which, whilst not the most impressive, was certainly a welcome one for the thousands of Aussie Reds fans packed into the MCG on a memorable night.