ROSY ARE REDS
Magic Mane hits a stunning treble in Liverpool’s Valentine’s Day massacre
THOSE raised eyebrows when Jurgen Klopp said Liverpool can win the Champions League are not arched so high any more.
The German has been here before of course, with an unfancied and underrated Borussia Dortmund side that came so close in 2013, and knows what it takes to silence the big guns: pace and stealth.
His Reds team have both in abundance, and proved anything Manchester City can do, they can do better, with five superb goals to put them firmly in the quarter-finals and make the return leg a formality.
It was the manner of victory which spoke most about Liverpool’s credentials in this competition. The sheer verve on the break, the intense quality of their front three will have sent a message to the most aristocratic of opponents.
And the omens are good too. This was the eleventh time they have travelled to Portugal for European duty, and only their third win in the country. After the previous two – Benfica in the European Cup quarter-finals of 1978 and 1984 – they went on to lift the trophy.
Klopp will not get carried away, with so much English quality left in the Champions League it would be foolish to do so. But he can rest his star players when Porto visit.
He will be confident too, of progressing further, such was the majesty of the goals they produced, with Sadio Mane scoring three, and his partners Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah again finding the net.
But there was excellence too from James Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum in midfield, and from the central defensive partnership of Virgil van Dijk and Dejan Lovren, who showed real strength.
As first halves in Europe go, this was close to perfect for Liverpool, who seemed to be toying with their opponents at times.
If it was no surprise Salah recorded his 30th goal of an incredible campaign, then Porto’s willingness to let him and his teammates have so much of the ball was puzzling. In that first period, Klopp’s men were allowed 65 per cent possession, a remarkable statistic away from home in this competition, especially against their technically-gifted hosts who thrive on a hostile support. Their game-plan was perhaps to give Liverpool the ball, as many in the Premier League do, in an attempt to stop them breaking at the breath-taking and deadly speed that has become Klopp’s trademark. It did not work.
From the opening moments, Liverpool were lightning quick on the counter, with Mane seeing so