Academy prospects such as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben Woodburn and Harry Wilson featured alongside established first-team stars and a selection of club legends, including McManaman, during the Reds’ match at the ANZ Stadium.
Daniel Sturridge, Alberto Moreno and Roberto Firmino all struck before half-time as Jürgen Klopp’s uniquely-assembled team ran out comprehensive 3-0 victors in front of around 73,000 fans.
And former Liverpool winger McManaman, who now mentors players at Kirkby, believes the development of those in the club’s youth ranks will be advanced by their involvement in such fixtures.
“I’ve known them all from the Academy and I’m very impressed with all of them,” the 45-year-old told Liverpoolfc.com, when asked to assess the youngsters’ performances in Australia.
“It was great to see Rhian Brewster have a go with them [the first team], getting on and playing with them, because he’s very talented.
“But we’ve seen the likes of Connor Randall, Kev Stewart, Trent and Ben on numerous occasions [and] the more they play with the first team, the more they train with the first team, the better they’ll become.
“You see they’re not out of place at all and it’s great for the future.”
Macca in action in Sydney. Click here for a full photo gallery from the ANZ Stadium.
McManaman, who came on as a half-time substitute for Steven Gerrard, relished the opportunity to pull on the red shirt again having done so with such distinction on 364 occasions in the 1990s - even if his fitness levels have dropped off somewhat since his prime.
“It was interesting, it was very enjoyable actually, considering we got off the plane today,” he said after the final whistle.
“I really enjoyed it. I was blowing a little bit in the second half - I thought I was fit but, of course I’m fit for people my age but I can’t keep up with the young ones anymore!”
A start to the game high in both quality and tempo saw Liverpool race into a three-goal lead before the 40-minute mark and McManaman was impressed by the starting XI’s efforts, especially seeing as they had only arrived in Sydney a few hours before kick-off.
“Firmino [and Sturridge], they’ve got oodles of class as we well know and it was just too much for some of the Sydney players early on,” the former England international said.
“Liverpool started the game really, really well considering all the factors like getting off the plane after a long day travelling, [then] virtually [coming] straight to the ground after a couple of hours in the hotel. The way they started, it was brilliant, really.”