Keita starts to repay price tag as strike puts Reds in charge

Midfielder Naby Keita looks like he is finally starting to deliver on his £53 million price tag after scoring for the second successive match to put Liverpool in control of their Champions League quarter-final with Porto.

The Guinea international netted his first Anfield goal – after only five minutes – in the 2-0 win over the Portuguese visitors five days after his maiden strike in the Premier League at Southampton.

Keita put in arguably his best performance in a red shirt since joining in the summer and, after a difficult settling-in period, appears to be fulfilling the faith manager Jurgen Klopp placed in him in agreeing a deal with RB Leipzig 12 months before he actually arrived.

Roberto Firmino’s 14th goal in the competition for the club, drawing level with Mohamed Salah and Ian Rush, doubled Liverpool’s lead after 26 minutes but the only disappointment on the night was that they did not finish the job as they had done last season when they won the first leg 5-0 in Porto.

It was not all routine, however, as there were a couple of rare handling errors by goalkeeper Alisson Becker, one which led to a VAR call after the ball hit Trent Alexanderarnold’s arm on its way out of play, and another video review when the ball hit the arm of Dejan Lovren, making his first start in three months.

On both occasions the answer was in the negative but it emboldened the visitors and the ever-dangerous Moussa Marega could have had two goals which would have put an entirely different complexion on things.

Certainly, Porto did enough to suggest the second leg will not be as straightforward as last season’s – a 0-0 draw at Anfield – but having reached the final 13 months ago Liverpool should have enough experience to get the job done, having beaten Bayern Munich in Germany last time out.