Porto v Liverpool: UCL Match Preview
Liverpool will look to bring home an advantage from the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash against Porto on Wednesday night.
The Reds travel to Portugal having closed the gap on second-placed Manchester United to two points in the Premier League by beating Southampton 2-0 at St. Mary’s.
Klopp will be without the suspended Can and long-term absentee Nathaniel Clyne, while Joe Gomez (knee) is a doubt but Ragnar Klavan has been declared fit following a thigh injury.
Record signing Virgil van Dijk is set for his first appearance in the competition for the club he joined in January and goalkeeper Loris Karius is set to keep his place in goal.
Porto’s high-scoring attack could be missing its biggest weapon for Wednesday’s match against Liverpool in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Cameroon forward Vincent Aboubakar has a lingering muscle injury and remains doubtful for the first leg at Estadio do Dragao.
Other Porto players who are injured include Marcano, Danilo and Andre Andre.
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- Liverpool are unbeaten against Porto, having played them four times in all competitions (W2 D2). Their two encounters in Portugal both ended in draws.
- Porto have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2009/10. They haven’t progressed past the quarter-finals since they lifted the trophy in 2004.
- Liverpool were one of four teams to remain unbeaten in this season’s Champions League group stages, alongside Barcelona, Besiktas and Tottenham.
- Only PSG (25) scored more goals than Liverpool (23) in this season’s Champions League group stages.
- Porto scored more goals from set-pieces (8) than any other team in this season’s Champions League group stages.
- Porto’s Vincent Aboubakar has scored five goals and delivered two assists in this season’s Champions League (5 games), already the most prolific campaign of his career.
- In his first six Champions League games, Roberto Firmino has scored six goals and delivered three assists. Also, no player was directly involved in more goals than Firmino away from home in this season’s group stages (4 goals, 2 assists).