Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp described his side’s goals in a 3-0 friendly win over Bundesliga club Stuttgart as ‘absolutely exceptional’.

In the Reds first hit out of pre-season, Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita and Rhian Brewster all got their names on the scoresheet in Austria.

Firmino opened the scoring for Liverpool before claiming the assist for Keita’s goal with Brewster then wrapping up the victory with a close-range finish in the 68th minute.

For a pre-season match in wet weather, Klopp liked what he saw from his side as they began their long journey to defend the Premier League title.

‘How we made the goals, I would say that was absolutely exceptional,’ Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com.

‘Obviously Taki [Takumi Minamino] is in pretty good shape, Kostas [Tsimikas] showed some nice glimpses of his talent. We know we have good boys here and that looked well. How I said, they had to work today and that’s what they did, so I’m fine with the performance.

‘I’m very happy, very happy. It was a super intense session for us today because the weather, wow, it rained like crazy, the pitch was really difficult – you could see the water was still on the pitch. That makes football games always tricky.

‘Good organised opponent obviously but we scored nice goals and for me most important was that we felt 45 minutes [of] football is different to a 90-minute session, because in sessions you make breaks, drinks break. Here is no break, so you just have to go through. That was the most important thing to do today and the boys did it, they felt the intensity of the game – very good.

‘Tomorrow we do a little bit less, Monday two sessions, Tuesday is Salzburg, interesting. So, it’s all good.

‘I think Ki-Jana [Hoever] rolled the ankle a little bit but apart from that they all should be fine, which is obviously very important.’

Klopp was also impressed by new signing Kostas Tsimikas, who made his debut for the Reds after joining the club from Olympiacos.

‘He is a pretty quick player and pretty confident, how you will hear in his [post-match] interview, but he is a good player – a really good player – and he did well,’ he said.

‘The next challenge for him is now to get used to our defending and things. It will take time, no doubt, but when he has the ball it looks not so bad.’