This Wednesday night, FC Porto lost to Liverpool, 2-0, for matchday five of Group B of the Champions League. With one more match to go, the Dragons are second, with five points, one more than AC Milan and Atlético Madrid. FC Porto-Atlético Madrid and AC Milan-Liverpool are the last matches in the group stage.

FC Porto went in with character, and, eight minutes in, could have earned the lead: Otávio recovered the ball in the attack and crossed to Mehdi Taremi, in a move that almost led to an own goal by Joël Matip. The great start would almost pay-off again shortly after, with Luis Díaz running up, but Otávio, in great position, shot to the side (12m). Liverpool felt many difficulties countering FC Porto’s defensive organization, but, in one of the times they managed to break it, they scored, with Sadio Mané (37m).

After analysing the play, the VAR saw the Senegalese forward offside and the goal was disallowed. And, just before the break, Mehdi Taremi had another chance to score. Receiving the pass from Otávio, the Iranian international star decided on a late pass rather instead of shooting, face to face with Alisson, allowing the defence to clear it (42m). As in the first-half, FC Porto had the first great opportunity to score: following a free-kick taken by Sérgio Oliveira, the ball ended in Matheus Uribe and the Colombian aimed for goal, but was just a few centimetres away from beating Alisson (49m). As FC Porto failed to score, Liverpool did it.

In less than 20 minutes, two great goals from Thiago Alcântara (52m) and Mohamed Salah (72m) made the blue and white task even harder, but the Dragons deserved much more than a 2-0 defeat at Anfield, given the many opportunities created, in a performance full of personality, which was only blemished by the wasted opportunities in the attack and by the genius of Thiago Alcântara and Mohamed Salah.