The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Firmino aims to make Porto suffer in first leg
Forward Roberto Firmino does not know if Champions League opponents Porto are afraid of Liverpool and their goalscoring threat but he hopes to make them suffer in the Estadio do Dragao.
Jurgen Klopp’s side scored 23 goals as they qualified unbeaten top of their group, a record for an English club and a competition total surpassed only by Paris St Germain (25), also this season.
Nineteen of those goals came from Firmino (six), Mohamed Salah (five), Coutinho (five) and Sadio Mane (three) and although one of that quartet is now with Barcelona it does not make them much less of a threat.
“I don’t know if Porto are going to be afraid but we are going to make their life difficult and make them suffer,” said Firmino, who has 20 goals for the season in all competitions.
The Brazil international’s tally for the Champions League this season is only bettered by Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Tottenham’s Harry Kane, who have nine, and is on a par with PSG pair Neymar and Edinson Cavani and Sevilla’s Wissam ben Yedder.
Asked whether he felt he belonged in such rarefied company Firmino added: “Of course I want to be at their level but I only focus on playing a good game.
“If I play a good game then the goals will appear. I am trying to give my maximum for the team and trying to be alongside these great players in Europe.”
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp has confirmed Loris Karius, who has taken over as first-choice goalkeeper, will start in Portugal but refused to expand on what that means for Simon Mignolet.
“No-one knows about the future. It is not for me to think about these things, I have to make a decision for tomorrow night,” he said.