Liverpool Make Easy Work of Blackburn Rovers in 2-0 Win; Lazar Markovic Scores

Liverpool continued their pre-season preparations with a 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Thursday.

James Milner missed a penalty in the first half for the Reds, but manager Jurgen Klopp made 10 changes at the break and was rewarded with an improved performance.

Daniel Sturridge set up the opener for Lazar Markovic, before the striker sealed the win with a neat flick past goalkeeper David Raya.

Klopp named a team containing a mixture of youth and experience in the first half. Milner captained the side with Loris Karius in goal and youngsters Ben Woodburn and Sheyi Ojo also starting:

Goal's Neil Jones shared the two teams:

"

Teamsheet, @Rovers vs @LFC pic.twitter.com/PzwHkriPGX

— Neil Jones (@neiljonesgoal) July 19, 2018"

The Reds had the perfect opportunity to open the scoring after just five minutes. Dominic Solanke was brought down by Raya who conceded the penalty.

Milner stepped up to take the spot-kick, but Raya redeemed himself by diving to his right to push the ball away and keep it out. 

Solanke had another sight of goal on 16 minutes when he headed Nathaniel Clyne's cross just wide of goal. 

Liverpool thought they had gone ahead just shy of the half-hour mark when Divock Origi tapped home Alberto Moreno's cross, but the forward was adjudged to have been offside and it was ruled out.

The Reds went close again right at the end of the first half as Adam Lallana hit the crossbar. He then saw an effort blocked on the line by Charlie Mulgrew.

Football writer Jack Sear offered his view on the first half:

Liverpool made 10 changes at half-time with only Karius keeping his place in the team. New arrivals Naby Keita and Fabinho came on as well as striker Sturridge.

The changes made an instant impact with Keita releasing Sturridge on the left, but he could only fire his shot across goal and wide. 

Minutes later and the duo combined again to create a chance. However, Sturridge could not find the target again as he blasted wide.

A raft of substitutes followed for both sides with Blackburn prompting some confusion, as shown by football writer Artur Petrosyan:

Liverpool continued to press and got the goal they deserved on 63 minutes. Sturridge played in Markovic who took a took a touch before firing across goal and into the corner of the net.

Another goal almost followed as Rafael Camacho managed to beat the goalkeeper but not a sliding Lewis Travis, who managed to scoop it off the line.

Keita was starting to run the show for Liverpool and set up the Reds' second goal. He won the ball in midfield and then played in Sturridge to flick past Raya.

Ian Doyle at the Liverpool Echo offered his view of Keita:

It was a decent evening's work for Liverpool with Keita the pick of the bunch and Sturridge and Fabinho also impressing.

Liverpool will now head off on their United States tour where they will face Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and Manchester United in the 2018 International Champions Cup.