Liverpool will look to book their passage into the last eight of the Champions League for the first time in nearly a decade when they take on Porto in the second leg of their Round of 16 tie. The Reds lead 5-0 from the first leg in Lisbon, making them strong favourites to advance to their first CL quarterfinal since 2009.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were ruthless in the first leg at the Dragao, scoring five goals. Sadio Mane, who netted three of them, even won the Goal of the Week award for one of his strikes. Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino were also on the scoresheet, but they may be rested with Klopp having one eye on their weekend clash against Manchester United.
It’s effectively mission impossible for Porto, with no team having ever overturned a five goal deficit in modern Champions League history. Their coach Sergio Conceicao has all but conceded the tie, saying that his team are playing for pride and their focus is now on the Portuguese domestic league. It’s become imperative for FCP to do well domestically- recent European results have ensured that the country’s co-efficient ranking has dropped with only two teams set to participate in the 2019/20 Champions League. That means one of the country’s big three (Porto, Benfica and Sporting) will miss out, and Porto will be keen to ensure it’s not them who fail to make the cut.
Porto have not won in seventeen visits to England, but have lost only once on the road across all competitions this season. The punters have them at 33/5 to upset the Reds, and if those odds look attractive, don’t forget to check out this Viks promo code that could came in handy. Liverpool have NEVER been beaten by Porto in Europe, and the one time the two sides met in a continental knockout tie, it ended up in the Reds winning the title that season (UEFA Cup 2000/01)
Since that 5-0 loss on Valentine’s Day, Porto have actually bounced back quite well, with four straight wins over Rio Ave, Estoril, Portimonense and Sporting. They’ve netted 15 times in those four games and conceded just three. The Sporting game also saw Vincent Aboubakar make his return from injury off the bench, and Porto will be hoping that the Senegalese striker will be fully fit for this clash, given that they’re already without the likes of Alex Telles, Danilo and Tiquinho. Defender Felipe returns from suspension for the visitors, and so does midfielder Emre Can for Liverpool.
LFC & Porto form since first leg game
Liverpool 4-1 West Ham
Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle
Porto 5-0 Rio Ave
Estoril 1-3 Porto
Portimonense 1-5 Porto
Porto 2-1 Sporting
The referee for this one is Felix Zwayer who has already officiated two Champions League games involving Portuguese sides this season. One was Sporting’s 3-1 win over Olympiakos; the other was Benfica’s 1-0 loss to Manchester United.
Liverpool v Porto CL Second leg at Anfield on 6 March, 2018 (Referee- Zwayer)