Liverpool host Porto at Anfield on Tuesday night having arguably had the best draw for the quarterfinals. Liverpool avoided Barcelona, Manchester City, Manchester United, Juventus, and Tottenham in the draw for the elite eight, and the Reds will be quietly confident going into the two-legged tie.
This is the second straight season in which Liverpool and Porto have met in the Champions League knockout stages. In 2017-18, Liverpool blasted Porto 5-0 away in Portugal before seeing out a nil-nil stalemate at Anfield to progress. Can Liverpool dominate Porto once more?
Like Liverpool, Porto are in a tight title race on the domestic front. They are level on points with Benfica and go into Tuesday night’s first leg match having won four straight matches on the domestic front.
Neither team has had an easy route to get to this point in the Champions League. Liverpool made life difficult for themselves and needed a dramatic win in the group stage against Napoli to get to the knockout round. They then drew with Bayern Munich at home before out playing the Germans at the Allianz Arena, 3-1.
Porto lost their first leg last-16 match against Roma away before beating the Italians at home, 3-1. Porto needed a dramatic extra-time penalty to advance to the quarterfinals.
The Portuguese side will be without four players. Centre-forward Vincent Aboubakar is a long-term absentee due ruptured cruciate knee ligament, meanwhile defender Alex Telles has bursitis. Porto also have two players out suspended as Pepe and Hector Herrera won’t feature until the second leg. Pepe will be a huge miss as he is the heart of Porto’s defence.
Although Liverpool duo Joe Gomez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are still out injured, the duo could feature in the second leg. It was at this stage last season against Manchester City that Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered a season ending knee ligament injury. Gomez has been out since December when he broke his ankle against Burnley. Midfielder Adam Lallana is likely to miss the game as he has suffered a muscular injury in training.
While the other three issues won’t be a problem, Jurgen Klopp will see his starting left-back, Andrew Robertson, suspended for the first leg. James Milner could step into the left-back position for Robertson.
Liverpool came through the Premier League with a dramatic come from behind win at the weekend to keep their title hopes alive. Can they continue their journey to a league and cup double with a first leg win at home?