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Liverpool 2-0 Porto: Firmino and Keita give Reds win at Anfield

Liverpool 2-0 Porto: Firmino and Keita give Reds win at Anfield

Liverpool host FC Porto at Anfield this evening as the Reds look to pick up a win to put themselves in the best place possible for the return leg in Portugal. It promises to be a hard fought game, with both sides in good form and ready to give it their all.




MATCH FACTS
  • Liverpool have never lost a European match against FC Porto in six previous encounters (W3 D3 L0).
  • FC Porto were eliminated by Liverpool in the Champions League last season at the Last 16 stage, losing 0-5 on aggregate, though the second leg at Anfield did end goalless.
  • Liverpool have progressed from four of their last five quarter-final appearances in the Champions League between 2004/05 and 2017/18 – only in 2008/09 did they fall out at this stage after a 5-7 aggregate defeat to Chelsea.
  • FC Porto have never faced an opponent more without winning in the Champions League than Liverpool (four games), also failing in four matches against Zenit St Petersburg and Juventus.
  • Each of Liverpool’s 12 goals in the Champions League this season have come from inside the box, the only side left in the competition yet to net a goal from outside the penalty area. Indeed, each of the nine goals Porto have conceded in the competition this season have also come from inside the box.
  • Porto have failed to win any of their last 12 away knockout games in the Champions League (D4 L8) since a 1-0 victory at Deportivo La Coruna back in May 2004. Indeed, the Portuguese side went on to win the trophy during that campaign under manager Jose Mourinho.
  • Liverpool midfielder James Milner has recorded 10 Champions League assists since the beginning of last season, more than any other player. Indeed, since 2003/04, only three other Englishman have registered double figures for assists for a single side in the competition (Frank Lampard – Chelsea, Wayne Rooney – Manchester United and Steven Gerrard - Liverpool).
  • Porto striker Moussa Marega is looking to become just the fourth different player in Champions League history to score in seven successive matches in the competition, after Edinson Cavani, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo.
  • Liverpool forward Sadio Mane has scored 69% of his Champions League goals in the knockout stages of the competition (9/13); of players with at least 10 goals, only Ivica Olic (7/10 – 70%) has a higher such percentage in Champions League history.
  • Should he appear, Sadio Mane will make his 20th Champions League appearance, scoring 13 goals in his 19 games so far. In fact, only five players have ever scored more than 13 in their first 20 matches in the competition’s history (Alessandro Del Piero (14), Ruud van Nistelrooy (16), Andriy Shevchenko (14), Jari Litmanen (14) and Roberto Soldado (16)).