Mohamed Salah juggled the ball in the penalty area, took it around a clueless Jose Sa, and became the fastest Liverpool player to 30 goals since George Allan. And anyone who knows who Allan is, will appreciate the incredible substance of that record.
Put it like this. We’re not talking modern, Premier League era football here. This is not an achievement that takes place on Sky, or even in colour. If evidence exists of Allan’s talent it will be in written documents and statistical evidence, not moving images. Queen Victoria was on the throne when Allan played his first, and last game for Liverpool. His record was set in 1896 and his life was over three years later.
Allan died of tuberculosis in 1899 at the age of 24. He scored his first goal against Loughborough Town. This is the frame of reference we have for Salah’s scoring achievement.
Sadio Mane puts his laces through the ball to complete his hat-trick from range and finish the scoring for Liverpool
Roberto Firmino makes no mistake as he latches on to James Milner’s low cross into the penalty area for Liverpool’s fourth
Sadio Mane converts from close range on the rebound after Roberto Firmino was denied by Porto goalkeeper Jose Sa
The Senegal star’s strike put Liverpool 3-0 up on the night in the first-leg of their last 16 tie away in Portugal on Wednesday
He then converted from close range to double Liverpool’s advantage at a rain-drenched Estadio Do Dragao
Salah wheels away with his arms outstretched after notching his 30th goal of an impressive first season on Merseyside
Sadio Mane broke the deadlock after his low effort squirmed underneath the Porto goalkeeper Sa and trickled over the line
Georginio Wijnaldum joins his team-mate Mane in celebrating the opening goal of the first-leg of the last 16 tie
MATCH FACTS, PLAYER RATINGS AND MATCH ZONE
Porto (4-2-3-1): Sa: Ricardo, Marcano, Reyes, Telles: Herrera, Oliveira: Marega: Otavio (Corona 45), Brahimi (Waris 62): Soares (Pacencia 74)
Subs not used: Casillas, Pereira, Parades, Torres
Manager: Sergio Conceicao
Liverpool (4-3-3): Karius: Alexander-Arnold (Gomez 79), Van Dijk, Lovren, Moreno: Wijnaldum, Henderson (Matip 75), Milner: Salah, Firmino (Ings 80), Mane
Subs not used: Mignolet, Moreno, Lallana, Oxlade-Chamberlain
Goalscorers: Mane 25, 53, 85, Salah 29, Firmino 69
Manager: Jurgen Klopp
Referee: Daniele Orsato
Mohamed Salah juggles the ball after James Milner’s shot bounced off the post to double Liverpool’s lead. CLICK HERE for more from MATCH ZONE
Another age, another time. No living person will have seen Allan play, making Salah’s record all the more remarkable. He has streaked past all of Liverpool’s greatest strikers and into history. What a player this is.
What a player his team-mate Sadio Mane, too, scoring his first hat-trick in a Liverpool shirt, completed with a late second-half screamer from 25 yards, to cap a quite brilliant night. What a performance, Porto put away in 90 minutes, Liverpool turning the second leg into nothing more than a formality.
They were a class apart in Portugal, faster, smarter, fearless. They knew they had the beating of Porto early, and took full advantage. By the time James Milner’s cross set up Roberto Firmino for the fourth after 70 minutes the contest was long over. Even so, it was the goal that banished memories of the Seville comeback, a three goal lead tossed away in the group stage.
No danger of that here. Liverpool had far too much for Porto, the three-pronged attack of Salah, Firmino and Sadio Mane overwhelming the home team and, in particular, goalkeeper Sa.
His was a weak display, although the players ahead of him offered little cover. If Liverpool had needed to repeat their seven goal dismantling of Spartak Moscow in their previous European game, they probably could have.
Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino competes for the ball against Porto midfielder Sergio Oliveira in the opening stages
Liverpool left back Andrew Robertson charges forward with the ball as Porto forward Otavio chases back for the hosts
Georginio Wijnaldum nips in front of Porto’s Diego Reyes during a battle for the ball in midfield on Wednesday night
Liverpool teenager Trent Alexander-Arnold chases back to try and close down Porto winger Yacine Brahimi
There certainly wasn’t much fire from the hosts at the stadium of the dragon. Maybe the weather put it out. Incessant rain, in all day and forecast to last the next 24 hours, at least.
It dampened the enthusiasm of the locals long before Liverpool’s two first-half goals poured icy water over their ambitions. Like a lot of the opposition Premier League clubs have come up against in this competition of late, Porto are a very strong team against clubs from their own country.
They are unbeaten in the league this season, with just four draws. Injuries might be advanced as mitigation, but the bottom line is Liverpool made them look ordinary once the game settled down.
It was the same for Manchester City against dominant Swiss champions Basel on Tuesday – and even the mighty Juventus could not impress against a Tottenham team currently sitting outside the Champions League qualification places.
Porto started brightly, but Liverpool soon took command, the driving rain in their faces but little else in the way of opposition. Otavio, one of those highly skilled Brazilians not yet considered worthy of a cap, was the best of it for the home side and in the ninth minute he was picked out by Moussa Marega, his shot deflected over the bar by Dejan Lovren.
It wasn’t exactly the most thrilling opening, certainly about the previous night, and neutrals may have noted that by the time Andrew Robertson had the first shot at goal on 12 minutes, Juventus had been two up on Tottenham, and Manchester City ahead in Basel. No matter.
Liverpool took their time but when they finally got it together, they as good as disposed of Porto in the space of five minutes.
The first goal owed as much to persistence as excellence, but it was none the worse for that. Georginio Wijnaldum powered into the box and struck a shot which hit a defender but rebounded back to his feet. He tried again, like a blunderbuss clearing an explosive path, the ball eventually finding its way to Sadio Mane on the left.
Mohamed Salah nicks the ball in front of Porto goalkeeper Jose Sa after James Milner’s shot bounced off the post
The Egyptian looped the ball over the stranded Porto No 1 and juggled it on his head inside the six-yard box
Salah loops his close-range effort over the covering Porto defender on the line to put Liverpool in charge away from home
His low shot should have been covered by Jose Sa but Porto’s goalkeeper, a youth prospect who has never quite trained on to claim a place in the national senior team, let it squirm under him and agonisingly over the line. Perhaps the conditions did not help.
There were 25 minutes gone, but already the game appeared to be heading in one direction. From their next meaningful attack, Liverpool achieved significant away goal distance. Mohamed Salah’s composed trickery will be the lasting memory, but James Milner deserves credit too for a curling shot that thundered against the far post, Sa defeated and Salah first to pounce.
Some would have panicked in his position. Salah was cooler than a cucumber in a polar bear’s icebox. He didn’t blast it, with Sa desperately trying to recover, he didn’t try to take the shot off balance. First, he flicked it up, then he headed it, all the time taking the ball farther from Sa’s reach.
Eventually, satisfied that his chance of scoring was close to 100 per cent, he finished. It was a brilliant goal, his seventh in the competition this season, including the qualifying round. He needs one more to equal Steven Gerrard’s tally from 2008-09 – and Harry Kane’s in this campaign.
Porto mounted brief resistance shortly before half-time, when captain Hector Herrera picked out Francisco Soares, who shot wide – but Liverpool’s biggest danger was easing up too early. The third of the night put paid to that fantasy.
It was a classic Liverpool counter-attack, fast out from the back, Roberto Firmino putting Salah away with a quite ingenious back-heel. He made fantastic ground and returned the ball with a precision pass, Firmino’s low shot forcing Sa to parry left.
To no avail – Mane was also up with the move and simply returned the ball to the net, simplicity itself. Liverpool have now scored ten without reply over two games in this competition. No matter the quality of the opposition, it’s still the Champions League and that’s quite a marker.
Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren puts his hand on opposition player Diego Reyes as he looks to defend a corner-kick
Roberto Firmino gets his head down low but cannot make contact on an inviting cross into the heart of the penalty area