Liverpool will play the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against FC Porto on Tuesday night at Anfield with the Reds holding a strong advantage over the unbeaten Primeira Liga leaders.

The Reds hold a 5-0 advantage over their Portuguese opponents, Sadio Mane scored a magnificent hat-trick with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino also on target.

Having been eliminated from the FA Cup last month and being that they are unlikely to win the Premier League, the tournament is the Reds' only realistic hope of winning silverware this season.

Jürgen Klopp has failed to bring a trophy back to Merseyside despite being defeated in two finals. However, a good run in the Champions League would show signs of progress since the former Dortmund boss joined the Reds back in 2016.

Liverpool are in fine form heading into the second leg after beating Newcastle 2-0 on Saturday to make it three successive wins in the Premier League.

Salah - the man of the moment - and Mane scored the goals for Klopp's rampant team as the Reds returned to second in the Premier League on Saturday.

FC Porto face an almost impossible task but will be looking to give a better account of themselves as they travel to Merseyside looking to overturn a five-goal deficit.

Vincent Aboubakar who missed the first-leg was their star man in the group stages with five goals in five appearances for the Blue and Whites.

The 26-year-old striker has already scored 20 times in all competitions this season and will be the danger man for Klopp's side.

Porto only conceded five goals in the group stage of the competition but were simply blown apart by Liverpool.

FC Porto have been very impressive domestically this season as the Dragons sit top of the Primeira League by five points after beating Sporting Lisbon 2-1 on Friday. They remain unbeaten in the league and have lost just twice all season, defeats coming against Beşiktaş and Liverpool.

Team News

Klopp will be without long-term absentee Nathaniel Clyne who has returned recently to first-team training, whilst Georginio Wijnaldum and Ben Woodburn are doubts after being left out of the squad to face Newcastle with illness.

Simon Mignolet is expected to start on Tuesday after being restricted to limited games due to the fine form of first-choice keeper Loris Karius.

Dominic Solanke, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Alberto Moreno, James Milner and Adam Lallana all featured on the bench against Newcastle and all will be hoping for starting positions come Tuesday.

FC Porto have announced that Spanish goalkeeper and former Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas will leave at the end of the season.

For the visitors, Tiquinho Soares, Moussa Marega and Alex Telles could all miss out after not featuring in Porto's 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon on Friday.

Recent form (all competitions)

Liverpool: WDWWWW

Porto: WLWLWW

Latest Result

Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle United

FC Porto 2-1 Sporting Lisbon

Match Facts

The Reds are unbeaten against Porto, having played them five times in all competitions (W3 D2). Their most recent being the 5-0 mauling in Portugal.

Porto have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2009/10. They haven't progressed past the quarter-finals since they lifted the trophy in 2004 under Jose Mourinho.

Liverpool were one of four teams to remain unbeaten in this season's Champions League group stages, alongside Barcelona, Beşiktaş and Tottenham.

Liverpool are this seasons Champions League top-scorers with 28 goals already in the competition this season.

Porto scored more goals from set-pieces (8) than any other team in this season's Champions League group stages.

Porto's Aboubakar has scored five goals and delivered two assists in this season's Champions League (5 games), already the most prolific campaign of his career.

Referee

Felix Zwayer (Germany)

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About the author
Joshua Kerr
Third-year Sports Journalism student at Staffordshire University, contributing to Vavel UK since April 2017.