Champions League: Liverpool go through to play Man City

Liverpool, Man City, Barca, Real Madrid, Sevilla, AS Roma, Juve, Bayern Munich go through to CL last eight

Liverpool progressed to the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the first time since 2009 after demolishing rivals Porto 5-0 in their last 16 first leg clash and holding them to a goalless draw in the second leg of the tie. A first-leg Saido Mane hat-trick alongside goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohammed Salah in the first leg were sufficient to seal Liverpool’s progression in the competition, and as a result, Jurgen Klopp’s in-form side have one of the most feared forward lines on the continent. Premier League club Man City who are looking sure to win the prestigious English Premier League title this season and have a shot at the Champions League title as well, are preparing to battle Liverpool who are currently 3rd on the England Premier League Table only 2 points behind 2nd place Man United. City went through to the Champions League quarter-final stage to compete with Liverpool after winning the tie 5-2 on aggregate against Basel - even after a humbling 2-1 loss, their first home defeat since 2016. Man City are currently considered one of the top football clubs in the world and are on the road to a possible treble this season.

Champions League Last 16 2nd Leg: Liverpool 0-0 Porto (Agg: 5-0)

The match was preceded by a minute’s silence in memory of Davide Astori, the Fiorentina captain who tragically died in his sleep on Saturday night, leaving behind a wife, young daughter and many, many grief-stricken former team-mates, friends and other colleagues as were all this week’s Champions League and Europa League matches. The goalless deadlock remained unbroken until the end of the match on an uneventful night at Anfield, but Liverpool advanced on the back of their easy 0-5 first leg away win. It’s a game that Liverpool and their supporters will look back on with gratitude as the Reds advance to the quarter-finals on the way to Kiev. “You’ve got to give credit to Porto, who played well,” said Jordan Henderson after the win. “This is the business end of the season, the next few months. We’ve got to keep going, putting in performances and the results will look after themselves.”

Jurgen Klopp spoke at his pre-match media briefing and said he would not be fielding a second-string side despite his team’s enormous advantage and what he thought about his side’s impressive win in the first leg. “We won the first leg in an impressive way,” said Klopp. “We respect Porto too much and we respect the competition too much to think about rotating. We had an intense game on Saturday; we had a few knocks and a few ill players. I haven’t made a decision about the line-up. Yesterday we trained with nine players, Today is about recovery again and tomorrow we will focus on the finer details. We need to focus on the game. We want to win the second half of the tie. We’re at a moment in the league when we all have to deliver constantly. We only use the players who are in the best shape. If I do choose a different line-up, it’ll only be because we want to win the game. I might make two or three changes.”. “We were very effective, but Porto are a fantastic team and the Portuguese league is a fantastic league,” added Klopp. “We won 5-0, yes, but only because we scored with virtually every chance we had. If we hadn’t, and if Porto had scored their two chances, the result would have been different.”

Squads
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp made five changes for his side’s second leg tie against Porto. Top scorer Mo Salah was rested and watched from the bench, while midfielder Adam Lallana was handed his first start in 2 months. Left-back Alberto Moreno also started for the first time in 6 weeks with Andrew Robertson out due to a knock. Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold were among the subs, with Joel Matip and Joe Gomez coming into defense and James Milner starting in midfield.

Liverpool
Karius, Gomez, Matip, Lovren, Moreno, Can, Henderson, Milner, Mane, Firmino, Lallana. Subs: Mignolet, van Dijk, Salah, Klavan, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ings, Alexander-Arnold.

FC Porto
Casillas, Maxi Pereira, Felipe, Reyes, Dalot, Costa, Torres, Andre Andre, Corona, Aboubakar, Waris. Subs: Jose Sa, Brahimi, Paciencia, Ricardo Pereira, Otavio, Sergio Oliveira, Mata.

Liverpool have been drawn with Manchester City in their Champions League quarter-finals tie. On April 4, Liverpool host Manchester City at Anfield Road in Liverpool, United Kingdom in the first leg; and on April 10 Manchester City will host Liverpool at Etihad Stadium in Manchester in the second leg of the tie. Red’s boss Jürgen Klopp was happy with his side’s Champions League draw until he realized that after playing Manchester City on Wednesday Liverpool will face an early kick-off in a big game on Saturday against Everton Fc in the Merseyside Derby. Manchester City are in a similar situation with a tough game between the two legs of the Champions League quarter-final scheduled against Manchester United. If City win the Manchester Derby they will be crowned 2017-18 Premier League champions. “We are not going to get much recovery time after what will be a very intense game against City,” said Klopp. “Obviously whoever made the schedule did not think we would reach the quarter-finals because the derby was originally a Sunday game. I know countries where they cancel whole matchdays so teams can be in the best shape for big games in Europe. We play at 7.45pm on Wednesday and 12.30 on Saturday. Oops, it’s only Liverpool. City get to play at 5.30. Can you imagine how big that difference is for two sides involved in a Champions League meeting that is bound to be intense? Five hours means the world in terms of preparation and recovery.”

Klopp said the all-English quarter-final was a dream pairing. “All Manchester City fans must be really happy.” However, Klopp said he was angry about the way the matches were scheduled. “It is not perfect,” he said. “Obviously we have to go the hard way but I am used to that. We take it like it is but, if I cannot be angry about something like this anymore, then I am dead. I cannot be politically correct and say nothing because that doesn’t work. We are going to have two very intense games against City and the one in between at Everton is not going to be much less intense either. I would at least like to have seen it put on at a normal time and not at breakfast. City didn’t want us. Our record is not too bad against them; we are not a team they would like to play constantly. I have respect for their manager – we do not know each other particularly well so I would not say we have a relationship. City are obviously one of the strongest teams left in the competition but you are more or less bound to come up against a world-class team in the quarter-finals. I have no problem with that. The thing I love most about football is that it is really not decided before you play. It is not about what has happened in the past. It is about what you do in the game.”

Champions League Knockout Stage Results

Champions League Round of 16 first legs results
13 February: Juventus 2-2 Tottenham, Basel 0-4 Manchester City
14 February: Porto 0-5 Liverpool, Real Madrid 3-1 Paris
20 February: Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona, Bayern 5-0 Beşiktaş
21 February: Sevilla 0-0 Manchester United, Shakhtar 2-1 Roma

Champions League Round of 16 second legs results
6 March: Liverpool 0-0 Porto (agg: 5-0), Paris 1-2 Real Madrid (agg: 2-5)
7 March: Tottenham 1-2 Juventus (agg: 3-4), Manchester City 1-2 Basel (agg: 5-2)
13 March: Manchester United 1-2 Sevilla (agg: 1-2), AS Roma 1-0 Shakhtar (agg: 2-2, Roma win on away goals)
14 March: Barcelona 3-0 Chelsea (agg: 4-1), Beşiktaş 1-3 Bayern (agg: 1-8)

Champions League 2019 Tickets, Schedule

Buy Champions League tickets for Last 8 first and second leg ties now securely online from LiveFootballTickets.com, semi-finals tickets and the UEFA Champions League Final 2018 Tickets Olimpiysky Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine on May 26, 2018.

Quarter-finals
Quarter-finals, first leg (3-4 April)
Quarter-finals, second leg (10-11 April)
Semi-finals and final

Draw (13 April)
Semi-finals, first leg (24-25 April)
Semi-finals, second leg (1-2 May)
Final, NSC Olimpiyski, Kyiv (26 May)

Liverpool Tickets

Liverpool tickets are for sale now online from LiveFootballTickets.com for the following Premier League and Champions League fixtures. Buy Champions League tickets for Last 8 first and second leg ties now securely online from LiveFootballTickets.com!

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