Liverpool registered a third straight victory in the UEFA Europa League group stage courtesy of a 5-1 thrashing of Toulouse at Anfield on Thursday evening.
Luke Chambers was given a debut by the Reds, who also named Caoimhin Kelleher as Alisson Becker, Virgil Van Dijk, Dominik Szoboszlai, Mohamed Salah and Coady Gakpo were named on the bench.
Toulouse trailed on just nine minutes as Diogo Jota received a low pass from Joe Gomez before evading a few challengers calmly slotting into the back of the net.
However, the men from Ligue 1 restored parity where a switch-play saw Thijs Dallinga race down at quick speed at the other end and finished from inside the six-yard area.
Liverpool were keen to go back ahead minutes apart and had Ryan Gravenberch apply a cutback from a tight angle to have goalkeeper Guillaume Restes make a diving save.
Japan international Wataru Endo got the host back in front on the half-hour mark after he made a giant leap to head in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross.
Darwin Nunez gave the host a comfortable cushion three minutes later when he pounced on a loose ball following Jones’ snap shot and finished at the near post.
Toulouse got a golden chance to reduce the advantage from a loose pass involving Kelleher, but Alexander-Arnold was on hand to produce a goal-line clearance to deny Gabriel Suazo.
Restes were afforded more work with a smart block off Gravenberch’s shot before making a point-blank save to keep out Nunez.
Nunez was clear yet again midway through the second half where he raced down to find the post having rounded Restes before Gravenberch finished off the follow-up.
Liverpool were in cruise control with the French outfit unable to rediscover their buoyant spirit from the opening stages in the first half.
Substitute Salah made it five in the last minute of the match when he dummied one challenge in the box to fire into the top corner, sealing their perfect record in the competition.
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