Austrian teenager Besian Idrizaj scored an impressive 19-minute hat-trick as Rafael Benitez's squad of promising youngsters opened Liverpool's pre-season in some style at Wrexham.
Both sides fielded completely different teams in each half of their friendly at the Racecourse ground, which attracted an 11,000-plus crowd.
The 22 Liverpool players on show comprised of the bulk of their FA Youth Cup-winning sides of the last couple of seasons, plus an array of prospects signed in Benitez's three years at Anfield.
And it underlined that the battle for recognition outside Benitez's increasingly expensive senior squad will be fought out between local Academy products and newcomers from across Europe.
How many of them eventually make it when the club are spending the likes of £20million on Fernando Torres, with plenty more to come, remains to be seen.
The only big names on show for Liverpool were Steve Finnan, Jermaine Pennant, Mohamed Sissoko and Alvaro Arbeloa. And Benitez watched with interest as the young pretenders did their best to impress.
And 19-year-old Idrizaj did just that, with plenty of help from Pennant. His first came on five minutes when Jordy Brouwer nodded down a Pennant cross for Idrizaj to crash past Tony Williams from six yards.
Two more Pennant crosses saw Idrizaj, who had a spell on loan at Luton last term, got the better of Wales international defender Steve Evans with two fine headers.
The second period saw a much more even contest with Wrexham having 10 players with league experience on the pitch against a predominantly Liverpool youth team.
And the Welsh club pulled one back on 61 minutes when substitute goalkeeper Martin Hansen made a hash of a clearance and presented Eifion Williams with a gift chance.
Liverpool gave their two new Hungarian youngsters, Krisztian Nemeth and Andras Simon their first taste of British football, but they conceded another goal with three minutes to go when Hansen punched away a cross and Williams hooked home his second from 25 yards.
Both sides fielded completely different teams in each half of their friendly at the Racecourse ground, which attracted an 11,000-plus crowd.
The 22 Liverpool players on show comprised of the bulk of their FA Youth Cup-winning sides of the last couple of seasons, plus an array of prospects signed in Benitez's three years at Anfield.
And it underlined that the battle for recognition outside Benitez's increasingly expensive senior squad will be fought out between local Academy products and newcomers from across Europe.
How many of them eventually make it when the club are spending the likes of £20million on Fernando Torres, with plenty more to come, remains to be seen.
The only big names on show for Liverpool were Steve Finnan, Jermaine Pennant, Mohamed Sissoko and Alvaro Arbeloa. And Benitez watched with interest as the young pretenders did their best to impress.
And 19-year-old Idrizaj did just that, with plenty of help from Pennant. His first came on five minutes when Jordy Brouwer nodded down a Pennant cross for Idrizaj to crash past Tony Williams from six yards.
Two more Pennant crosses saw Idrizaj, who had a spell on loan at Luton last term, got the better of Wales international defender Steve Evans with two fine headers.
The second period saw a much more even contest with Wrexham having 10 players with league experience on the pitch against a predominantly Liverpool youth team.
And the Welsh club pulled one back on 61 minutes when substitute goalkeeper Martin Hansen made a hash of a clearance and presented Eifion Williams with a gift chance.
Liverpool gave their two new Hungarian youngsters, Krisztian Nemeth and Andras Simon their first taste of British football, but they conceded another goal with three minutes to go when Hansen punched away a cross and Williams hooked home his second from 25 yards.
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