Liverpool will travel to Portugal to take on FC Porto at the Estádio do Dragão on Wednesday night as part of the first leg of the Champions League knockout stages. The Merseyside outfit comes into this match in a rich vein of form after earning a comfortable 2-0 win at the St. Mary’s stadium against Southampton on Sunday. Jurgen Klopp’s side are unbeaten in their last three matches and the German manager would look to build on that run by securing an away result at Portugal in midweek. The Reds are currently scoring goals for fun and will hope that they can get a few away goals which might give them an edge ahead of the second leg at Anfield next month.
Meanwhile, FC Porto are also in great touch and have secured three successive victories in a row prior to this contest. They will fancy their chances against a leaky Liverpool defence that has conceded 6 goals in 6 group stage matches in the Champions League this term. The recent history of the fixture favours the visitors as the Reds have never tasted defeat against their Portuguese counterparts, winning two and drawing two of their previous four meetings with FC Porto. Klopp is expected to deploy his favoured 4-3-3 formation and might hand Simon Mignolet a rare start in goal.
4-3-3 Liverpool Predicted Lineup To Face FC Porto
Defence
Simon Mignolet is expected to resume his duties in goal in place of Loris Karius and might be shielded by a backline of Virgil Van Dijk and Joel Matip in central defence while Andrew Robertson starts in the left-back position and Trent-Alexander Arnold takes his place on the right-hand side of the defence.
Both Joe Gomez and Ragnar Klavan are major doubts for this clash and could be rested on Wednesday night.
Midfield
The trio of James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could be unleashed at the centre of the park and the performance of these players will be integral if Liverpool are to break down the FC Porto defence at the Estádio do Dragão.
Lallana is still making his way back to full fitness and could be available for a place on the bench for this clash versus Sérgio Conceição’s side.
Attack
The front three would consist of Roberto Firmino spearheading the Reds attack, Mohamed Salah looking to cause some damage on the right side while Sadio Mane trying to use his pace on the left flank. Danny Ings and Dominic Solanke are both expected to start on the bench and come on during the match if required.
