Liverpool faced off against FC Porto at the Estádio do Dragão earlier tonight as they hoped to get back to winning ways on the road. The Reds made an excellent start to the game and took the lead in the 18th minute via Mohamed Salah’s goal from point-blank range. Sadio Mane doubled the Merseyside club’s advantage in the 45th minute when he tapped in from close range. Jurgen Klopp’s men went into the half-time break with a comfortable two-goal advantage.
Mohamed Salah put daylight between the two sides at the hour mark with a clinical finish. However, Porto scored a consolation goal when Mehdi Taremi found the back of the net with a good header. Roberto Firmino came off the bench to score a quick-fire brace in the final quarter of the game as the contest finished 5-1 in favour of Liverpool.
Let’s take a look at how each Liverpool player performed during the match against FC Porto.
GK: Alisson Becker – 6.5/10
The Brazilian keeper made a couple of solid saves during the game but will be disappointed for not keeping a clean sheet.
RB: James Milner – 7.5/10
Milner was a rock at the back as he didn’t allow the opposition to get in behind him. He worked hard and even managed to bag an assist for setting up Mane’s goal.
CB: Joel Matip – 7/10
The Cameroonian centre-back dealt with mostly everything that came his way on the defensive end of the pitch. He was also quite lively with the ball at his feet.
CB: Virgil Van Dijk – 7.5/10
Van Dijk kept a good shape inside his half and did enough work defensively to restrict the home team to just one goal throughout the 90 minutes.
LB: Andrew Robertson – 7.5/10
The Scottish left-back made some excellent runs with the ball and deserves credit for whipping in a few inviting crosses into the opponent’s half. He also went close to scoring with his second-half strike.
CM: Curtis Jones – 8/10
Jones was a constant menace for the opposition as he caused all kinds of problems for them in the final third. He was unfortunate not to score tonight but did pick up two good assists during his time on the pitch.
CM: Fabinho – 7.5/10
The Brazilian talent dominated the midfield battle and got stuck in with a few excellent tackles to disrupt the opposition’s rhythm in the game.
CM: Jordan Henderson – 7/10
The Liverpool captain chased down the opposition effectively and linked up play quite well going forward. However, his final delivery often let him down tonight.
LW: Sadio Mane – 7.5/10
Mane made a sloppy start to the game but grew stronger as the match progressed. He got his name on the scoresheet with an easy tap-in just before half-time.
ST: Diogo Jota – 6/10
The Portuguese striker could have scored a hattrick with all the chances he got. However, he was quite wasteful in front of the Porto goal.
RW: Mohamed Salah – 8/10
The Egyptian winger was always there in the right place at the right time and scored two good goals tonight. He got replaced in the second half.
Substitutes:
RB: Joe Gomez – 5/10
He was at fault for giving away the ball and not recovering in time for the Porto goal which cost his side the clean sheet.
ST: Roberto Firmino – 8/10
The Brazilian forward came on to score two quick-fire goals with two composed finishes. Klopp cannot ask for a better cameo than that.
ST: Takumi Minamino – 6/10
He hardly got into the flow of the game.
CM: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – 6/10
The English sensation went close to scoring with a great free-kick.
ST: Divock Origi – N/A
Origi hardly had any time to influence the game.
