Porto vs Liverpool: Player ratings as goals from Mane, Salah, Firmino and VVD seal easy win

Goals from Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Virgil van Dijk comfortably saw Liverpool into the Champions League semi-finals for the second successive year against an underwhelming FC Porto.

The hosts made all the running early on and had plenty of opportunities to score, with forward Moussa Marega once again guilty of missing chances.

Without the away goal, however, Porto were always going to struggle if Liverpool were to score first and that’s exactly how it transpired with Salah threading a perfect through ball to the in-form Mane who managed to just evade the offside flag (as confirmed by VAR) and poke the ball home.

Needing four to go through, Porto were forced to chase the game in the second-half and with their defence stretched, Salah pounced, collecting a slide-rule assist from Trent Alexander-Arnold and coolly slotting it past Iker Casillas.

The game wasn’t done there however, with Real Madrid-bound defender Eder Militao powering home a header late on, before Roberto Firmino and Van Dijk reciprocated at the other end.

Player ratings

Alisson: Calmer presence than in the first leg, making several solid saves in opening stages as Porto laid siege on the Liverpool box. Had little to do after Mane opener 7/10

Trent Alexander-Arnold: Good going forward and tracking back, decent passing and all round game without ever needing to shift out of second gear before brilliant slide-rule assist to Salah 8/10

Andy Robertson: Made good clearance early on and had more defending to do than usual with Porto chasing game and was replaced late on by Henderson 6/10

Virgil van Dijk: Slightly frantic start, mistimed jump on Corona cross but made excellent recovering tackle to stop Herrera scoring and got better and better as game progressed 7/10

Joel Matip: Looked out of sync with Van Dijk at times and struggled to cope with the lively Marega. Place in team could be under threat with returning

Fabinho: Worked hard at the heart of Liverpool’s midfield, helping to cover two centre-backs who didn’t always look at their usual best 8/10

James Milner: Led the side well in place of Henderson, dictating play in midfield and fizzing on Gerrard-esque ball 60 yards across the pitch before switching 7/10

Gini Wijnaldum: Guilty of a few misplaced passes in the first-half but grew into the game and put in another solid if unexciting performance 7/10

Sadio Mane: Made a brilliant timed run to evade the offside flag and open the scoring. Nearly turned provider later on but Salah couldn’t quite direct header on target 8/10

Mohamed Salah: Excellent threaded through ball to tee up the opener. Could have set up another just after half-time but miscued cross. Confident finish to double lead 8/10

Divock Origi: Surprise replacement for Roberto Firmino. Started out on the left and had a fairly anonymous first 45 before being replaced by Firmino at half-time 4/10

Subs

Roberto Firmino: Lively presence after replacing Origi but a few overhit passes until excellent piece of tracking back won ball and set up second before thumping header to score third 8/10

Joe Gomez: Made long-awaited return to first-team and will have been pleased with easy reintroduction despite Militao’s consolation 5/10

Jordan Henderson: Continued excellent recent form by setting up Firmino for the third with undefendable cross 7/10