Liverpool will travel to Portugal this Tuesday to face Porto in their second group game of the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League season.
Venue: Estádio do Dragão (Porto)
Key Statistics
Porto are unbeaten in 18 games in all competitions (W13, D5).
They have won all of their last six home games.
They have also kept four consecutive clean sheets at home.
Liverpool are unbeaten in 17 competitive games (W12, D5).
They have scored in each of their last 19 away games in all competitions.
Head to head
Both teams have met eight times in the past with Liverpool unbeaten in this fixture (W5, D3).
Latest Performances in all competitions
Porto: W-W-D-D-W-D (Goals for 12,Goals against 3)
Liverpool: D-W-W-W-W (Goals for 16,Goals against 6)
Porto
Porto welcome familiar Champions League opponents Liverpool to the Estádio do Dragão for the third time in the last three years.
The hosts have played their English counterparts eight times but have failed to get a win. The best have gotten is a 1-1 draw on this ground in 2007.
They will hope to finally get a win against Liverpool and prove that they can perform well against the big boys.
Despite their struggles against the Premier League side, the Portuguese side have a big Champions League pedigree and are behind only Real Madrid and Barcelona in UCL appearances per season.
Sérgio Conceição’s side last tasted defeat in the UCL when they lost in last season’s quarter-final against Chelsea.
They began their UCL account this year with a nil-nil draw with Atletico Madrid and will hope to take another positive result as they look to qualify from a tough group.
Possible Porto starting line-ups
Diogo Costa; Wendell, Fabio Cardoso, Ivan Marcano, Joao Mario; Mateus Uribe, Sergio Oliveira; Otavio, Fabio Vieira, Luis Diaz; Mehdi Taremi.
Unavailable
Mbemba (suspended), Marchesín (knee)
Doubtful: Pepe (leg)
Liverpool
After their exciting, yet disappointing 3-3 draw with Brentford in the Premier League last weekend, Liverpool travel to Portugal to continue their UCL campaign.
The Reds won their first match at Anfield against AC Milan, but showed signs of weakness after conceding two goals in three minutes.
Although they eventually won the game in the second half to keep their unbeaten run intact, they will have learnt that they will be punished for any lapse in concentration by Porto.
Jurgen Klopp’s men have been put in a difficult group but are expected to emerge top of the group. A good record against Porto will give them confidence heading into this tie as they look to put themselves at least two points ahead of the other group members.
Naby Keita is expected to return to the side after sitting out the last game. But Thiago Alcantara and Harvey Elliot will miss the trip to Porto.
Trent Alexander-Arnold will miss the Porto clash.
Exceptional player, really happy we signed him [Diogo Jota]. A really strong personality. He’s a very mature man for a young age and that makes it really enjoyable to work with him. It’s not easy to improve us but Diogo has done that, definitely.
We don’t count on points we don’t have already, it’s a tough group so we should not waste time to get points. Atletico versus Porto was a tough one and if someone deserved to win it, it was Porto, so that says a lot. The team we face tomorrow.
Porto have had players coming out and in but have the same manager. It’s not an advantage to have won the last two games there. We think about this game and they have different opportunities to set up and we have to prepare for that.
Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool manager
Possible Liverpool starting line-ups
Alisson; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Andrew Robertson; Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Curtis Jones; Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota.
Unavailable
Thiago (calf), Elliott (ankle), Keïta (ankle), Williams (ankle), Trent Alexander-Arnold (injury)
Probability
Porto win : Draw : Liverpool win :: 20% : 25% : 55%
Teams to score total 3 goals or more : 58%
Prediction
Although Liverpool have looked vulnerable at the back in recent games, they still possess a lethal attack and a good defence. They head into this tie as favourites and are likely to take home three points.
But Porto are no pushovers and will look to put up a fight.
