Goals from Diogo Jota, Wataru Endo, Darwin Nunez, Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah helped Liverpool canter past Toulouse in the Europa League at Anfield.
Liverpool fans gave a heartfelt tribute to the former Everton chairman Bill Kenwright, who died earlier this week.
The Reds were firmly on the top right from the start.
And it took just eight minutes for Jota to open the scoring, calmly finishing after skipping past several challenges.
Les Violets responded well and a Liverpool lapse in concentration was punished by Thijs Dallinga.
He equalised in the 16th minute courtesy of a perfectly weighted pass from Aron Donnum.
But Gravenberch continued to cause problems for Toulouse through his forward runs and ability to find pockets of space.
Endo headed Liverpool back into the lead in the 30th minute when Trent Alexander-Arnold swung in a fine cross.
Nunez then hammered home Reds’ third goal as Toulouse keeper Guillaume Restes stood no chance against the Uruguayan’s left-footed strike into the roof of the net.
As the second half began, the hosts continued their dominance.
Nunez missed a glaring chance to score Liverpool’s fourth as he evaded the Toulouse keeper but could only hit the post with the goal gaping.
Luckily, Gravenberch was following up and he rounded Restes and slotted home to kill off the tie, deservedly getting his name on the scoresheet in the 65th minute.
Left-back Calum Scanlon made his senior debut coming on for Nunez in the 66th minute.
The Reds looked to see out the game with a comfortable lead as Salah came on for Gravenberch.
And 19-year-old James McConnell made his debut as he came on for Curtis Jones in the dying moments of the game.
Salah inflicted more misery on Toulouse as he scored Liverpool’s fifth at the end of stoppage time, capping off a memorable night.
Klopp’s men extended their unbeaten home run to 16 games and the German was delighted with the performance.
He said afterwards: “Very happy. How difficult the game could have been but the majority of the time we were in control.
“The right players scored. Perfect night.”
(Darwin Nunez image free to use, by Steffen Prößdorf wikimedia commons)
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