The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Liverpool and Real Madrid take control of Champions League ties
Klopp’s men are red hot as they destroy Portuguese men in their own back yard
Sadio Mane scored a hat-trick and Mohamed Salah continued his phenomenal run with a 30th of the season as Liverpool won 5-0 at Porto to virtually assure themselves a Champions League quarter-final place.
Mane was in the right place at the right time to score twice in the first half before rifling home his hat-trick just before the end, to overshadow the exploits of Salah, whose brilliant individual effort made him the second fastest to the 30-goal landmark in the club’s history and the quickest for 122 years.
Roberto Firmino also had an outstanding game and his goal – his seventh in Europe this season, with only Cristiano Ronaldo scoring more – was just reward for the Brazilian.
It ensured a comfortable night in the Estadio do Dragao as the Reds’ first knockout encounter in nine years at this level passed without major incident.
Hat-trick hero Mane insisted the entire team deserved praise and not just the in-form front three.
He told BT Sport 2: “It was important to play as a team and we did, we played great football from the beginning. We created so many chances and we scored five. It was well deserved.
“I enjoy to play all the time with great players. Everyone is talking about the three but the team makes it easier. Without the team we are nothing and they do a great job behind and we are the lucky boys who score all the time.”
Liverpool dominated first-half possession and it was only a matter of time before a team with their firepower would find a way through.
When it came, in the 26th minute, it may have owed something to the conditions with rain swirling around the pitch as it had the city all day.
Georginio Wijnaldum’s pass reached Mane on the left of the area and his shot squirmed under Jose Sa.
If that was the nerve-settler, the second goal was a cause for celebration, coming after James Milner cut in from the left and lashed a right-footed shot against the far post.
The lurking Salah was quickest to react, collecting the rebound, flicking the ball up twice with his left foot, nodding it on with his third touch and then forcing home from close range – all within the space of about five yards.
Liverpool were from then on able to control the game, although Yacine Brahimi cutting through their defence for Franciso Soares to fire just wide was a wake-up call seconds before the break.
It was one they heeded as, after soaking up some early pressure in the second half, a quick counter-attack featuring an exquisite back-heel lay-off by Firmino to Salah in the centre-circle led to Mane tapping home his second after Firmino’s shot was parried by Sa.
The Brazil international finally found the target with 20 minutes to go as he side-footed home Milner’s cross before Mane’s piledriver put the tie surely beyond Porto.