When the easiest opponent in your group are two time European Cup winners Porto, you know you have a tricky draw.
Jürgen Klopp made one change to the team that drew with Brentford on Saturday, bringing in James Milner at right-back to cover for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold, sticking with their usual 4-3-3 formation.
Sérgio Conceição made four changes to the side that emerged victorious against Gil Vicente, swapping out Wendell, Chancel Mbemba, Vitor Ferreira and Fabio Vieira for Fabio Cardoso, Zaidu Sanusi, Sérgio Oliveira and Antonio Martinez as they switched to a 4-4-2 shape.
It was a very standard defensive set up from Porto: sitting back in two banks of four and blocking up the centre, then shifting across when Liverpool went wide.
Liverpool had little issue working around it. They did this through overloading the wide areas: Jordan Henderson and Curtis Jones would drift wide, with one tucking inside to give balance to the midfield when the other pulled out to the flank. Luis Diaz and Otavio were primarily concerned with Liverpool’s full-backs, while Liverpool’s attacking trio would stay narrow, making Porto’s full-backs reluctant to push out and leave their teammates three-versus-three at the back. As a result Henderson and Jones had space to pick up the ball out wide, either deep if the full-backs overlapped, dragging Porto’s wingers with them, or higher up if Andy Robertson and Milner stayed deeper, in the space between Porto’s wingers and full-backs.
This is how Liverpool took the lead. Robertson had the ball deep, drawing Otavio forward, so Jones drifted out towards the touchline ahead of him. Jesus Corona was busy inside with former teammate and local boy Diogo Jota, meaning Jones was free to pick up the ball, turn and run at the defence, cutting inside onto his right and shooting at goal in one slick motion. Diogo Costa palmed the ball away, but Sanusi struggled to control the rebound, hitting it back towards goal, into the path of Mohamed Salah to finish.
Liverpool continued to dominate as Porto offered very little in the way of a response. They continued to sit off, handing Liverpool control of the match, and when they did regain possession, they would send direct passes towards the forwards, looking to break quickly, yet Liverpool’s defenders dealt with them easily.
The away side doubled their lead just before half-time. Porto were pulled over towards their right as Sadio Mané and Jones exchanged passes down the flank, pulling Diaz far into the centre. Liverpool then passed back to Fabinho, who spread the ball out to Milner on the opposite touchline. He had time to take a touch and whip in a cross towards the back post, where Liverpool were outnumbering Porto’s defenders three-against-two, leaving Mané free to tap the ball into an empty net after Costa bizarrely chose to rush out, only to let the ball run across him rather than claiming it.
Conceição aimed to change things at half-time, removing striker Martinez for Liverpool loanee Marko Grujic, as they switched to a 4-2-3-1. This added an extra body to the midfield, but did little else.
Liverpool added yet another when Jones pounced on a heavy touch to win the ball in midfield, then dribbled forward and rolled the ball wide to Salah to finish, with Sanusi caught up-field in transition.
Porto managed to get one back from a similar situation. They were pushing forward in midfield, only to lose the ball and see Liverpool begin to counter, but substitute Roberto Firmino’s pass was poor, handing the ball back to Porto with Liverpool players caught ahead of the ball. The ball was spread wide to Corona in acres of space, who hit a ball over the top. Liverpool headed it away, but Vieira was there to pick up the loose ball, dribble away from pressure and cross to Mehdi Taremi at the back post. Substitute Joe Gomez was doubled up on at the back post and stood between the two men, rather than getting goal-side of the more central Taremi, allowing the Iranian to get to the ball first.
Liverpool immediately ensured no comeback could start up though. Jones received the ball deep in midfield, danced away from the pressure of two Porto players, and hit a long pass in behind with his weaker left foot. Firmino got to the ball first and nudged it wide, changing the angle so that Costa, who had rushed off his line to sweep up behind his defence, was no longer protecting his goal. Firmino calmly passed the ball into the net, with Costa chasing after it, catching up with it just after it had already crossed the line.
They then topped off their win with a fifth from a free-kick – Jones’ shot rebounding through to Firmino to poke home. It was the young Scouser’s fourth assist of the match, capping off another brilliant performance after impressing against Brentford at the weekend. He broke through into the first team last season only to disappear from the squad for no apparent reason from March onwards, but is showing his worth again.
Sitting back and looking to soak up pressure has caused Liverpool problems yet Porto went about it in the most bog-standard way imaginable, and even then they handed Liverpool a strong lead with their mistakes. It wasn’t exactly shocking this turned into a mauling.
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