Klopp stars set up Barca blockbuster
IT was in the 65th minute that absolute confirmation arrived. a glorious pass from Trent alexander-arnold sliced Porto’s defence in half and Mohamed salah galloped away to apply a serene finish.
Here was a goal so easy on the eye, the sign of a team functioning perfectly, but what followed was revealing. The celebrations were sober on the pitch, just as they were in the stands. Manager Jurgen Klopp’s first reaction was to make a substitution.
This was not complacency, though, but ruthlessness.
Liverpool are heading into a semi- final with Barcelona — a ‘crazy achievement’, Klopp said — and they have the look of a team who can go all the way.
For all the talk about Liverpool winning the Premier League, Europe may provide the silver sheen to this outstanding season. This was a difficult night in northern Portugal but they got through it with a combination of indefatigable defending and clinical finishing.
They are a better team than the one who won 5-0 at this venue last February and lost the Champions League final to Real Madrid in May. Lionel Messi will provide a different test, but who is to say Liverpool won’t prevail?
Porto boss sergio Conceicao had described Liverpool as the best team in the world in the build-up to this clash. That is arguable but what can be said with certainty is that they have the best defence in Europe.
‘It was tough, that’s what we expected,’ said captain Jordan Henderson. ‘They made it intense but we kept going. You could see the effort we put in.’
The hour before kick- off saw a downpour so heavy it threatened to delay the kick-off. In the event we began on time, but the effect of so much rain on the playing surface was apparent in the opening moments.
Liverpool wanted to take the sting out of the contest by keeping possession at the back, but it was a dangerous tactic as each pass between Virgil van Dijk, alexander-arnold nold and alisson checked ed on the spongy surface. There was no zip and it invited Porto to come forward.
Not that the hosts needed any more encouragement. The noise in this cavernous arena was s wonderful, with earsplitting rmed whistles aimed at Liverpool and the match officials, and bellowing screams of encouragement for those in blue and white.
Bookmakers had made Liverpool 1-50 to progress but those odds were an insult to the Portuguese, who had their first shot after 37 seconds when Jesus Corona skipped inside andrew Robertson and crashed a drive just over the bar. It was a sign of things to come.co Too many of Liverpool’s players had started slowly and the contest would have been given a different complexion had Moussa Marega not been so profligate. The Malian had been wasteful in the first leg at anfield and the same was true here. Twice in the space of 60 seconds, Marega had the opportunity to bring this cauldron to the boil, but he planted one header wide from 10 yards after sneaking between Joel Matip and Van Dijk, then scuffed a volley from an alex Telles cross the wrong side of a post.
Porto had to connect with one of these big swings, because sooner or later Liverpool were going to land with one of their own. It arrived in the 26th minute.
For once, Liverpool put a sequence of passes together. Robertson and Mane played a one-two, Gini wijnaldum helped it along to salah and the Egyptian’s attempted shot squirted to the back post, where Mane slid in to apply the finish.
Off we went to VaR. Inevitably, there was more fury among the home supporters the longer the officials spent deliberating, but the outcome was not in doubt.
salah, who had been watching the replays on the pitchside monitor, started celebrating 10 seconds before the signal was given. Felipe, the Brazilian left back, had played Mane onside.
How important the senegalese flyer has become to Liverpool. Mane has scored the first goal eight times in the last 14 matches and his quality and consistency have been such that it will be a surprise if he does not make the shortlist for Player of the Year.
One goal was always likely to be enough, but Liverpool went through the gears in the second half. salah’s strike was glorious, Roberto Firmino added the third from Henderson’s cross and Van Dijk rubbed salt in Porto wounds late on with a header to render Eder Militao’s strike nothing more than a footnote.
Klopp, undoubtedly, will pick faults in this display, but Liverpool are in outstanding shape. They have won their last eight matches in all competitions. Carry on in this manner and they might win the trophy that was once part of this club’s furniture.