Here's Andy Hunter's report from Anfield.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Thiago speak to BT Sport.
Ox: We wanted to approach it properly and win the game. We made changes and it was important everyone came in and did a job. You want to play as much you can. Games in succession is were the rhythm comes from, It was really good having Thiago back. Young Tyler, I thought he he did really well...It would be nice to go through with all wins. All of us dreamed of playing in the San Siro, that’s what we’re here to do.
Thiago: I have scored a prettier goal than that. The most important thing is how the team players. We are happy with the young guys and the experienced guys.
In the other game, Milan’s 1-0 win in Madrid makes the final matchday one hell of a festival of “as it stands”. Liverpool’s dominance has made it that way. Milan can go through if they beat Liverpool and Atletico and Porto draw.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 5 | 10 | 15 |
| 2 | FC Porto | 5 | -5 | 5 |
| 3 | Atletico Madrid | 5 | -3 | 4 |
| 4 | AC Milan | 5 | -2 | 4 |
Full-time: Liverpool 2-0 Porto
Porto will rue missing some first half chances, mostly created by the brilliance of Luis Diaz. Once the second half started, Liverpool stepped it up and Thiago scored a goal for the ages with that surface-level drive. Salah, as is habitual, got one for himself. Job done, and Liverpool look unstoppable at the moment. Tyler Morton made a fine debut, too.
Updated
90 min: Too easy for Liverpool now their top players are on the field.
88 min: Goal in the other game. Good news for Porto. Great news, in fact. Milner meanwhile picks up a booking that means he will miss the Milan game. Jürg won’t be too upset by that.
⏱️ 87'
— AC Milan (@acmilan) November 24, 2021
THERE IT IS! Messias heads home Kessie's cross to give us a late lead!!!! 🤩#AtletiMilan 0-1 #UCL #SempreMilan @EASPORTSFIFA pic.twitter.com/vuM3ZvJKSR
86 min: Porto look like they want the end of this and are hoping for good tidings from Madrid.
84 min: Concecaio Jnr gets clattered by Milner the veteran reducer machine. Conceciao doesn’t look remotely bothered.
82 min: James Milner comes on, and off goes Oxlade-Chamberlain.
81 min: Andrew Chappell is back on the offside/VAR tip. Just checked. Here is the law”
(Law 11)
Offside position
It is not an offence to be in an offside position.
A player is in an offside position if:
• any part of the head, body or feet is in the opponents’ half (excluding the halfway line) and
• any part of the head, body or feet is nearer to the opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent
The hands and arms of all players, including the goalkeepers, are not considered.
“I couldn’t tell on the very limited time the VAR review image was on screen but it sure looked like they measured on his wrist which would make it contradictory to the Law regarding ‘hands and arms’ not being ‘considered’. There is a distinct difference between the broadcast images we are shown on Premier League vs Champions League broadcasts. At least with PL we get views as they are being checked, live as it were, and it would seem a longer time for the commentary team to discuss and look at it. I went back and checked on my feed. Mané’s arm was straight up and down, at the time, and the measurement was made from his shoulder right down his arm to this wrist and to the ground. It was just so hard to see that at first, one had to really lean right into the screen to see - Glad we got that sorted.”
If Andrew gets so exercised by an offside in a dead rubber then...he has a future in football officialdom.
Updated
79 min: Morton stretches out a rangy leg and plays a pass out wide. Something of Stevie about him? Probably not a fair comparison to make, is it?
78 min: Marko Grujic comes on against his old club to some warm applause from that ever knowledgeable Anfield crowd.
76 min: Henderson goes under the wall and no Porto player acting as a draught excluder. He also goes wide, and is annoyed with himself.
Updated
75 min: Penalty to Liverpool? Origi brought down by Mbemba, but it was way outside. The ref was overruled by VAR. Free-kick on the edge of the box.
74 min: Porto look well beaten, and demoralised. They really should have put away those chances.
72 min: Liverpool have scored two more more goals in their last 17 matches, the first English team to do that since Wolves in 1939. Some feat.
Some subs made, too. That was Salah’s last touch, and he goes off, to be replaced by Fabinho, as Origi replaces Mane.
Goal! Liverpool 2-0 Porto (Salah, 70)
Salah, of course. Seventeen goals in 17 matches, 10 in his last 10 in this competition. Henderson played him and you know the rest.
Updated
69 min: Otavio, goes to the left, with his manager Sergio Concecaio going radio rental on the sideline. His boy Francisco is getting a fair earful from dad.
67 min: Something of a lull as all those subs set into place but Robertson sets off on a typically buccaneering run.
64 min: Porto sub: Concecaio, the manager’s boy, on and Taremi off. Oliveira also off and former Wolves player Vitinha on.
63 min: Liverpool looking for another, and finding spaces. Minamino has the ball in the net but his wide grin is quelled by an offside flag.
Here come the subs. Tsimikas and Thiago off, on come Robertson and Henderson, being nursed back into action after some recent knocks.
61 min: Liverpool changes imminent. But first Mane lifts a ball to Oxlade-Chamberlain, whose shot spins wide of the goal.
59 min: Brilliant from Diaz again, and his pass finds Evanilson, who runs into trouble. Porto have been wasteful. Alisson almost gets himself in trouble now, but Porto again fail to make anything of it.
57 min: Diaz gets a sniff but Minamino comes across to stop the danger. Then Diaz scampers through again and Alisson has to make a save. There’s an offside flag that looks marginal. Diaz dangerous once more.
54 min: It’s the Liverpool fans singing Allez Allez Allez now. Porto had their chances and now their hopes of getting out of the group are in trouble. It’s 0-0 between Atletico and Porto in the other game, by the way.
53 min: Sergio Concecaio is, again, raging. Nobody was stopping Thiago getting that shot in, even if it was a piece of brilliance.
Goal! Liverpool 1-0 Porto (Thiago, 52)
Thiago-ooooooooo!!!! A corner comes out and Thiago daisy cuts a beauty from the edge of the box. A mesmeric goal, and that’s probably put him well out of Barcelona’s price range.
Updated
49 min: Porto win a free-kick in a dangerous position; Alisson palms away with no conviction, the ball drops to Uribe and he turns and shoots wide. That was close.
48 min: Tyler Morton is a terrier in midfield. As Jürg said, he is no Fabinho but he’s certainly hard working and has some vision.
Updated
47 min: Andrew Chappell emails in: “I may be wrong but was that offside measured at Manés wrist by VAR? I thought the interpretation is that it is measured at the armpit/end of short shirt sleeve?”
I’ll, er, level with you. I don’t know. And I don’t think many others do, either.
46 min: We are back underway. Jürgen Klopp has promised five subs this half so expect to see some changes soon. Porto make their way slowly to the field. Was the first half their chance to win this?
Fancy having a banter? Next Thursday could be just the night for you.
Half-time: Liverpool 0-0 Porto
Liverpool had a goal chalked off, and only just but they haven’t been at the races in this game at all. Porto have been dangerous and made the better chances but seem to lack the belief they will finish them off. So far, not a famous European night at Anfield.
45 min: A minute is added on as Diaz gets away again, but his final pass isn’t up to scratch.
44 min: Mane shoots on his left but it loops off a defender for a corner.
42 min: Diaz spreads the ball to Otavio and Taremi is through. He should shoot but passes the ball into the centre. Morton clears, and Sergio Concecaio is doing his nut on the sidelines.
40 min: Porto were lucky not to be caught out; they had gone a bit easy oasy, and the lack of Pepe has left a hole in their defence. Uribe, meanwhile, is booked for pulling back Thiago, and will miss their final match with Atletico.
Goal ruled by VAR out for offside - it's back to 0-0
Mané was just a fraction offside. It was tight, very tight, but offside.
Updated
Liverpool 1-0 Porto (Mané, 37)
It comes against the run of play from two players who have been quiet. Thiago’s pass mesmerises the Porto defence and Mané strokes the ball home.
Updated
36 min: Luis Diaz speeds along, taking a few defenders with him, but nobody reads his pass. He’s a cut above, looks a superb player, and will no doubt be cashed in for a hefty whack sometime soon.
34 min: Mane is offside after some find sweeping-up work from The Ox. This really is rather disjointed from Liverpool.
32 min: Salah is buzzing around but there’s not much else happening for Liverpool. Otavio, who missed a sitter before, swings and shoots wide.
30 min: Kounate is booked for crashing into Joao Mario, and Jürg is not at all happy with that. It looked a cheap booking.
28 min: Cheers for Morton on every touch, and that’s nice to hear. There were many long years when Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher were the only Liverpool products on show...another scare for Porto with their goalie. Sergio Concecaio is not happy on the bench.
26 min: Porto fancy this one, but don’t want to risk too much. That said, Costa in their goal is something of a caution, and he dithers over a bouncing ball before releasing Diaz with a throw. They show good speed from back to front.
24 min: A dreadful tangle for Porto, and Costa almost gets caught out by dithering. The ball came a bit too fast to Salah to profit.
Pepe goes off, and Cardoso steps into defence.
23 min: Has Pepe got a knock now? He looks at the bench as if to say he’s had it. A shame in his 100th Gazprom appearance, and he doesn’t want the ball when Porto play the ball around.
22 min: Evanilson is down again, having clashed with Kounate, and he’s holding his back in pain. He’ll be reet.
20 min: Tsimikas’s lovely pass, and Minmino scampers away, and Salah is ready and waiting, only for Newcastle legend Mbemba to step in and clear the danger.
18 min: Liverpool look a tad unfamiliar with themselves tonight. Thiago yet to mesmerise, and that’s because Porto look a decent team.
17 min: David Horn gets in touch: “Evening John - nice to see some less familiar faces in the Liverpool line up tonight. I do feel though that the most challenging thing for Liverpool this season is going to be during the AFCON tournament, and missing Mané and Salah. Strange then that all the changes seem to be at the other end of the pitch. Presumably for a good while over Christmas Liverpool are going to be relying on a front three of Jota / Origi / Minamino … why not get them on the pitch for these last two games?”
15 min: Diaz and Neco Williams doesn’t look a fair fight at the moment; the Colombian’s pace and trickery are causing all sorts of problems.
14 min: Liverpool get a corner, that Matip climbs up, and heads into the keeper’s hands.
12 min: Liverpool have a free-kick, and Oxlade-Chamberlain will take. Porto look to have the greater muscle in the air at the moment, and then show speed on the break. Kounate and Tsimikas are caught out. Diaz again at the centre, and his pass finds Otavio who misses, but there’s a VAR call as Tsimikas might have caught him. It wasn’t a pen, it was a horrible miss. Otavio’s pride is hurt rather than his ankle. Hell of a miss.
Updated
10 min: Evanilson escapes on to a fine pass by Diaz, and beats Kounate only for the Liverpool defender to recover himself.
8 min: Tsimikas clatters into Evanilson who takes his time getting up. Get the feeling that Porto would not be too annoyed by getting a draw here...but then there’s trouble for Liverpool. Tsimikas is caught amidships, then Taremi heads in and Matip almost knocks it past his own keeper.
6 min: Pepe and the Porto keeper Costa almost get tangled up. But the ball is eventually cleared.
5 min: It’s quiet out there after that raucous start from the fans, though the Porto contingent sound in full voice. There’s cheers for Morton on his first touch.
3 min: Matip, the senior Liverpool defender with “Virge” benched, heads away a corner. Luis Diaz, the Porto star from Colombia, gets an early touch. It’s all Porto to start with.
2 min: Porto launch it from their goalkeeper. Why not try some Pulisian tactics?
1 min: And away we go...both fans singing Allez Allez Allez, and neither of them from France. There is applause as the teams take the knee.
The Champions League anthem rings out, and it is quite loud at Anfield. And why not? Things are going pretty good for the Red Men, and particularly in this competition. Alisson captains Liverpool tonight, and shakes hands with Pepe as the coin is tossed.
Updated
Klopp also said Andy Robertson is rested as if he played tonight, he wouldn’t be fit to play against Southampton this weekend. It’s the Merseyside derby next week too.
Jürgen Klopp speaks about Tyler Morton.
Surprise! The boy is ready. We made some changes we needed to make. I like the lineup a lot, this is the most experienced subs’ bench I ever had. I really hope we can play a good game. He’s a smart kid. He’s a good footballer and nobody plays the number six is like Fabinho so why should he? But we have a really good baller in that position.
Marko Grujic starts in midfield against the club he was at for six years, though much was spent on loan. A lot was expected of him a few years ago, and Porto are a hothouse for talent.
Of course Ryan Babel, of course a rap album.
Here’s the subs’ bench for the teams.
Liverpool: Adrián, Kelleher, Fabinho, Van Dijk, Milner, Henderson, Diogo Jota, Robertson, Origi, Phillips, Alexander-Arnold
Porto: Marchesín, Fábio Cardoso, Francisco Conceição, Pepê, Grujic, Tecatito, Manafá, Vitinha, Wendell, Bruno Costa, Toni Martínez, Fábio Vieira
Pepe, who has won the the competition three times, makes his 100th Champions League appearance.
⚽𝕆 ℕ𝕆𝕊𝕊𝕆 𝟙𝟙 𝕀ℕ𝕀ℂ𝕀𝔸𝕃⚽#FCPorto #LFCFCP #UCL pic.twitter.com/LegJhLnyih
— FC Porto (@FCPorto) November 24, 2021
The big news is Tyler Morton’s first ever Champions League start. Liverpool make four changes to the side that beat Arsenal 4-0. As predicted, Minamino and Thiago start, while Fabinho, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Diogo Jota are on the bench. With Mane and Salah playing, it looks a strong team for a match Liverpool don’t require a result from.
Saturday: #PL debut ✅
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 24, 2021
Wednesday: #UCL debut ✅
Well in, Tyler Morton! pic.twitter.com/3njZ6Y5t4N
The starting teams
Liverpool: Alisson, Williams, Matip, Konate, Tsimikas, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Morton, Thiago, Salah, Minamino, Mane.
Porto: Costa, Mario, Mbemba, Pepe, Zaidu, Uribe, Oliveira, Otavio, Diaz, Taremi, Evanilson.
Stat, via Uefa.
Liverpool have played Portuguese opposition on 23 occasions, winning 12 of them (D6 L5). At home, they are pretty formidable with seven wins, three draws and just a solitary loss, which came when they lost against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 in 2006.
Early team news, from PA Media.
Liverpool midfielder James Milner returned to training ahead of the Champions League visit of Porto after a hamstring injury which has sidelined him for a month. Left-back Andy Robertson (hamstring) and striker Divock Origi (illness) were also present having missed Saturday’s win over Arsenal. With qualification to the last 16 already secured, manager Jurgen Klopp will look to rest a number of his players so that could mean starts for the likes of Ibrahima Konate, Takumi Minamino and Origi among others.
Liverpool provisional squad: Alisson, Williams, Konate, Phillips, Tsimikas, Fabinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Milner, Thiago, Salah, Origi, Minamino, Kelleher, Adrian, Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Robertson, Beck, Bradley, Henderson, Morton, Jota, Mane.
Preamble
Liverpool have been so much better than everyone else in what was hopefully described as a “Group of Death” that they could play Arthur Askey in goals, and John Bishop up front and still go through to the last 16 as group winners. Though Atlético will hope that isn’t the case, as they are relying on Jürgen Klopp to do them a favour and beat the second-placed Porto. It probably won’t be a FAMOUS EUROPEAN NIGHT AT ANFIELD but Reds fans will get the chance to see a few lesser-spotted players, and rejoice in the fact that a few stars will get some much-needed rest. Jordan Henderson and Andy Robertson are back in the reckoning, and may play a part but this looks one for the second coming off of Takumi Minamino, who scored against Arsenal at the weekend. Far more excitingly, Tyler Morton, 19, might be given his chance. He’s the latest off the production line. Meanwhile, after pledging allegiance to the Red cause in the light of talk that Barcelona want him back, it’s perhaps time for a mesmeric performance from Thiago Alcântara.
Kick-off is at 8pm, join me.
