London: For all the £170 million (Dh804 million) invested on four new arrivals, any Liverpool title challenge will be built on the familiar swagger of their front three.
Mohammad Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane struck an extraordinary 91 goals between them last season. They played only the first half of their club’s final warm-up game on Tuesday night but looked so finely tuned it will be surprising if they do not go close to a similar tally over the next nine months.
Having reunited to dismantle Napoli last weekend, another Italian side suffered at their feet here.
As so often has been the case during their Liverpool careers, the attacking trio greeted the first whistle as if greyhounds scurrying after a bunny. Inspired by their swashbucklers, Liverpool were two-up after 24 minutes.
They would have led by more but for debutant Fabinho missing a penalty. The Brazilian never failed in 16 attempts for his former club Monaco, so his strike wide was a rare aberration.
The spot-kick was earned by Mane, who has been the most eye-catching off all Liverpool’s attackers in the warm-up fixtures. The Senegal striker looks in the condition to terrorise heading into this.
Firmino opened the scoring on 21 minutes, feeding off Salah’s clever pass and finding the top corner with the help of a deflection.
The Brazilian turned provider for Gini Wijnaldum three minutes later, a slicing through ball after more clever Salah play. Such vigour up front has never been in doubt. It is the vulnerabilities at the other end Jurgen Klopp sought to address when pursuing Virgil van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson.
Torino reduced the deficit when Lorenzo di Silvestri was given too much space by Alberto Moreno, his cross met by Andrea Belotti.
Then followed the usual flurry of substitutions, ending any chance of a similarly flowing performance in the second half, although Xherdan Shaqiri impressed again, creating a late third for Daniel Sturridge.
There were other notable contributions. Teenager Curtis Jones is one to watch in Liverpool midfield in the coming years - he is a 17-year-old whose maturity defies his youth.
Captain Jordan Henderson was also back just two days after returning from World Cup duty. Klopp had talked him out of coming back to training three weeks earlier.
Most poignantly, Loris Karius took another step in his rehabilitation when replacing Alisson on 73 minutes. While the Brazilian keeper was applauded just for being here most of the night, Karius was also granted an appreciative welcome making his first home appearance since the Champions League final.
The young German will be no more than a deputy should he remain at Anfield. He may be consoled by the fact that he will have a good view on the bench at the embarrassment visiting goalkeepers may be subjected to by Liverpool’s attack in the months ahead.
