But the home lead only lasted six minutes before Danny Murphy equalised for the Reds.
Florent Sinama Pongolle had a chance to open his account for his new club after earning a penalty. He took the spot kick himself but fired it straight at the keeper.
Gerard Houllier made ten substitutions at half time, with only Kirkland remaining from the first half, and it seemed to do the trick.
Emile Heskey maintained his impressive pre-season goalscoring record with his sixth of the summer in the 50th minute.
Kewell took his first Liverpool goal in style after good work from Michael Owen, then Neil Mellor scored a brace in the last 12 minutes to make the final score 5-1.
Team: Kirkland, Carragher, Henchoz, Hyypia, Vignal, Le Tallec, Murphy, Biscan, Diouf, Baros, Pongolle.
Subs: Kewell, Heskey, Owen, Gerrard, Riise, Finnan, Cheyrou, Traore, Welsh.
Who was your man of the match?