COLUMBIA, South Carolina — Liverpool gave Manchester United an early warning before the start of the new season with a 3-0 victory at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Arne Slot enjoyed a comfortable victory in his first game with United as Liverpool manager thanks to goals from Fábio Carvalho, Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas.
United begin their campaign against Manchester City in the Community Shield next week.
And while coach Erik ten Hag will have been pleased with some of the football played in the first half, the Dutchman will be concerned to see his side squandering a number of chances.
Rasmus Højlund will miss the next six weeks with a hamstring injury sustained in the opening game of the USA tour against Arsenal and without him United will be unable to make the most of their opportunities.
Jadon Sancho struggled to make an impact as he was assigned as No9 for a second successive game and Ten Hag faces a decision over whether to start new signing Joshua Zirkzee, who is training at Carrington, against City at Wembley.
Ten Hag also has another injury concern after Harry Maguire was left out of the squad as a precaution.
Slot, meanwhile, will be pleased with the involvement of Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian forward was very good on the right side for Liverpool and created Jones' second goal in front of a packed crowd of 77,559 in Columbia, the largest attendance for a soccer match in the history of the Carolinas.
Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Liverpool went into the break 2-0 up thanks to goals from Carvalho and Jones.
United created chances for Mason Mount, Marcus Rashford (who was fit to start after being injured and coming off against Real Betis) and Sancho, but it was Liverpool who were far more clinical when their opportunities came.
In the first 10 minutes, Carvalho received a pass from Diogo Jota and, after beating Casemiro inside the area, he finished with a shot that beat André Onana and went in at the far post.
Liverpool doubled their lead midway through the first half.
Salah beat youngster Toby Collyer on the right and crossed for Jones to finish under pressure from Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Scott McTominay had a golden opportunity to reduce the deficit shortly after the break, but his shot was well saved by substitute Vitezslav Jaros.
And United paid dearly again when Jota's shot was deflected off Onana and Tsimikas kept out Wan-Bissaka to slot home at the far post.
Both teams made a number of changes in the second half and Ethan Wheatley would have scored for United had it not been for another fine save from Jaros.
This ensured Liverpool finished their tour with a clean sheet, while Ten Hag returns home with questions to ponder.
