Manchester United claimed some early bragging rights over Liverpool as Louis van Gaal ended his first pre-season tour as manager with yet another morale-boosting win.

Steven Gerrard's penalty put Liverpool ahead, but Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata scored within two minutes of each other before Jesse Lingard rounded off the 3-1 win at the death.

The victory, which came in front of 51,104 rain-soaked fans at the uncovered Sun Life Stadium in Miami, meant United lifted the International Champions Cup – the pre-season tournament that contained eight of Europe's best teams.

The trophy, and the Chevrolet Cup, which Van Gaal won after United beat the Los Angeles Galaxy a fortnight ago, will not take pride of place in the Dutchman's packed cabinet.

But the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager will at least be happy to go back to Manchester with five wins under his belt and an enhanced knowledge of his squad.

United rode their luck at times in Miami – they could not handle Raheem Sterling for most of the night – but overall on this tour, Van Gaal's men have performed very well.

Rooney, who bagged four goals in the US, and Mata have been two of the best performers, along with Ander Herrera, Jonny Evans and Darren Fletcher.

The players have reacted well to Van Gaal's training techniques and the 3-4-1-2 system he has used successfully against the Galaxy, Roma, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and now Liverpool.

More importantly, the atmosphere around the camp is in complete contrast to the edgy feeling that lingered around the team under David Moyes.