Both sides named fairly strong line-ups with Liverpool handing debuts the defensive duo of Javier Manquillo (on loan from Atletico Madrid) and Dejan Lovren who arrived from Sothampton and ironically scored the winning goal for the Saints on his last visit to Anfield.
Dortmund looked to open the scoring early on when Kirch tested Mignolet with a shot but the Belgian saved the chance easily and a conuter-attack saw Liverpool come close twice in succession with Sterling hitting a shot at Langerak before Henderson drew another save from the Australian.
Liverpool's attack did bear fruit just five minutes later when a stunning run down the middle from Sturridge saw him race into the area before side-footing past Langerak and into the bottom corner for 1-0 but Dortmund could have levelled soon after when Pisczek looked to fire a rapid response but saw his shot go wide of the target.
Pisczek's miss soon proved to be a costly one as Liverpool added a second goal to their lead in the 14th minute as Gerrard swung in a corner that met the head of Lovren superbly and he marked his debut with a fine headed goal for 2-0.
Dortmund seemed to struggle to break through the newly formed Liverpool back line and could have been three down at the break when Gerrard looked to send a dangerous free-kick to test Langerak but could only hit over meaning only a two-goal lead into the interval.
The third goal did come just nine minutes into the second half when a superb squared pass from Sterling picked out Coutinho who fired past Langerak to increase the lead to 3-0 and the game was over as a contest on the hour mark when a pass from Sturridge found Henderson who hit past Langerak for 4-0.
Liverpool held on and secured a superb win that will fill them with confidence ahead of Sunday's Premier League opener against Southampton.
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