Porto 1-5 Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Sporting
FC Porto suffered another heavy defeat at home to Liverpool, beaten 1-5 in their own stadium to continue a hopeless record against Jurgen Klopp’s side that has seen them lose by an aggregate scoreline of 14-2 in their last 3 matches at home against Liverpool.
After a 0-5 defeat in the Champions League round of 16 first leg meeting in 2018, Porto were again unable to cope with Liverpool’s quality when they lost 1-4 the following season in the quarter finals, and were again completely outclassed in their latest clash, thumped 1-5 in front of their own fans to make it a trio of devastating results against the Anfield outfit.
Porto, who were playing without both starting central defenders Pepe and Chancel Mbemba through injury and suspension respectively, always faced an uphill task to keep Liverpool at bay, but would have hoped to make things more competitive than they managed in the end, particularly having held Atletico Madrid to a 0-0 draw just a couple of weeks prior.
It was a stunning display from Liverpool though, who scored in the opening 20 minutes through Mo Salah’s tap-in, before Sadio Mane had an easy finish of his own to make it 0-2 just before the break.
Sérgio Conceição, sensing potential disaster, took off striker Toni Martinez for defensive midfielder Grujic at the break, but it failed to make Porto look any more secure - in fact, it only saw Porto put under even more pressure, unable to keep possession and find a way out when they did manage to get on the ball.
It was no surprise, therefore, when Salah slotted hom to make it 0-3 with half an hour still remaining, leaving Porto fans to fear the worst.
There was at least a consolation - that for a brief moment added renewed belief to the Sporting faithful - when Taremi headed in from Fabio Vieira’s cross, but Liverpool very quickly restored their 3-goal lead, Firmino capitalising on another Diogo Costa error, who was left scrambling to keep the ball from crossing the line, which he just failed to do. The rout was completed in the 81st minute, Firmino again getting on the scoresheet.
Scathing Sergio
After the match, Porto’s manager did not hold back in his criticism for his team, understandably frustrated having once again been on the wronf side of a drubbing at the hands of Liverpool. He had very few words of encouragement for his team though, suggesting his youth team would have put in a better display, calling the match a “disaster” and “shameful”.
“The youth team would have done more today. It is necessary to understand if the message get through or not. Maybe I didn’t get the message across and this disaster happened. It was shameful.”
He did, however, shoulder most of the responsibility, and said that he would talk to the club president, Pinto da Costa, to analye “if the players are really willing to listen to the message.”
