Adam Lallana is back for Jurgen Klopp as Reds eyes the big prize: Five things we learned from Liverpool 0-0 Porto
Liverpool 0 Porto 0 (5-0 agg): After such a smooth passage, could Jurgen Klopp deliver the biggest prize in club football?
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Your support makes all the difference.Liverpool reached the last 16 of the Champions League after a subdued second leg at Anfield, where a goalless draw was enough following their dominant 5-0 win in Porto.
Sadio Mane struck the post in the first half and Danny Ings went close in the second, but this time Iker Casillas kept a clean sheet.
Here are five things we learned from the second leg at Anfield:
After such a smooth passage, could Liverpool go all the way?
Jurgen Klopp had indicated prior to kick-off he planned to make minor changes to his starting XI, and the omission of Egyptian forward Mohammed Salah, especially given Liverpool’s crunch game with Manchester United at the weekend, came as no real surprise.
In spite of Salah’s absence, Liverpool got the job done at Anfield, and progress to the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in over nine years. The likes of Saido Mane, who hit the post with a low drilled first-half shot, and Roberto Firmino are deadly options for Klopp’s side, and Liverpool will fear no opposition as they await the quarter-final draw.
The search for Klopp’s first trophy as Liverpool manager since taking the reins in 2015 is currently ongoing, though with Liverpool three rounds away from the ultimate domestic accolade, could we be witnessing the crafting of a maiden trophy, yet the biggest trophy, in Klopp’s Liverpool tenure?
Lallana adds to array of firepower
Liverpool had realistically put this tie to bed with their first-leg performance, though Klopp was evidently keen to steer clear of complacency as he named a strong starting XI for the second-leg clash at Anfield.
Despite resting Salah, Klopp named the likes of Mane, Firmino and Henderson in his starting line-up, as well as handing Adam Lallana his first Champions League start of the 2017-18 campaign after missing four months of the season with a thigh injury.
Lallana put in a commendable performance at Anfield, making just his third start in all competitions for the season, and as Liverpool prepare for the increasingly competitive run-in for Champions League qualification, the addition of Lallana to Klopp’s attacking armoury will only benefit the Merseyside outfit in their Champions League pursuits as well as for the final nine Premier League games of the season.
Defensively solid without Van Dijk
Klopp’s decision to rest Van Dijk was representative of the tie being all but settled prior to kick-off, though the central defensive partnership of Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip earned Liverpool a clean-sheet in front of their home fans.
The arrival of Van Dijk, a £75m signing from feeder club Southampton in January, has brought about an upturn in form as well as an increase in clean sheets for Klopp’s side, though the German will be reassured by the capability of his other defensive pairings to maintain solidity and keep clean sheets in the process.
With four clean sheets in six games prior to kick-off, and now five in seven, Liverpool are displaying the sort of defensive strength that Klopp would’ve hoped for when they signed Van Dijk in January, though they were able to get the job done without the Dutch defender on Tuesday night.
Porto give their fans a performance to cheer
After finishing second in group G above the likes of RB Leipzig and Monaco alongside comfortably leading the Primeira Liga, Porto were hoping to carry on their stunning domestic form into the knockout rounds of Europe’s elite competition, though the challenge posed by Liverpool in the last 16 has humbled the likely Portuguese champions.
Porto sold out their entire allocation of seats for the tie, despite the tie being more or less settled with the 5-0 first-leg aggregate score, and their supporters were impressively loud throughout the 90 minutes at Anfield, with the Porto team putting in a performance for their travelling fans.
In a season where Porto have gone 25 league games unbeaten, a 5-0 loss to Liverpool over two legs is perhaps telling of the gulf in class between the Premier League and the Primeira Liga, though Sergio Conceicao’s side can hold their heads high are a reputable performance at Anfield on Tuesday.
Klopp gives Reds’ fans reason to dream
It’s been just over 12 years since Liverpool last lifted the Champions League trophy, in 2005, and as Liverpool progress to the quarter-finals for the first time in over nine years, their fans are understandably apprehensive yet silently hopeful.
Klopp’s first trophy remains to be ticked off on his Liverpool bucket list, and would there be any better way of etching his name into Liverpool’s illustrious history books than for Klopp to lift the Champions League trophy?
If Liverpool were to be drawn a favourable quarter-final draw, they would be nearing the immortal territory of a Champions League final, and for a fan-base that has been within touching distance of a Premier League title in recent years, their potential success in the 2017-18 Champions League gives Liverpool’s fans yet another reason to dream of the seemingly impossible.
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