Liverpool were beaten 3-2 by Borussia Dortmund in their first match of a pre-season tour to the US.

In stifling conditions at the Notre Dame stadium in Indiana, the European champions faced the Bundesliga runners-up in what Jürgen Klopp had called “the first proper test” of his side’s pre-season.

Missing Roberto Firmino, Alisson, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané due to the Copa América and Africa Cup of Nations, Liverpool were hurt by defensive mistakes and Dortmund wasted no time in finding the net, courtesy of a close-range strike from Paco Alcacer after just three minutes.

Harry Wilson levelled in the 35th minute, but Dortmund scored two quick goals after the break. Thomas Delaney made it 2-1 eight minutes into the second half with an easy tap-in and Jacob Bruun Larsen extended the lead after finding the bottom corner in the 58th minute.

Rhian Brewster converted a penalty in the 75th minute after Ben Woodburn was brought down in the box but the Reds could not find the equaliser in the closing stages in front of a 40,361-strong crowd.

Klopp had featured many of the younger players in his starting line-up, but handed Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson, Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk and Georginio Wijnaldum their first summer match action after making 10 changes on the hour mark.

“How we conceded the goals was due to the lack of organisation around the situations,” said Klopp. “When you change a lot in the team then it’s quite difficult to have the perfect organisation. That will be better later in the pre-season and in the season of course, it has to and it will be. Apart from that, all good.

“There were a lot of good things, some things which I didn’t like, that’s normal in pre-season. I decide what we do in training and I know how much we did yesterday in already pretty warm weather conditions. I still don’t like what I see in the game very often in the pre-season but I know the reason for it. I’m not over the moon when I think about our performance but I know there’s a lot to come and it’s all OK.”

Liverpool will continue their pre-season tour at Boston’s Fenway Park against Sevilla on Sunday.