Porto 1-5 Liverpool: player ratings, man of match, heroes and villains as Mohamed Salah continues hot streak

Liverpool continued their historic dominance at the Estádio do Dragão as they yet again put Porto to the sword in the Champions League.

After previous 5-0 and 4-1 victories in Portugal, Jurgen Klopp’s men this time romped to a 5-1 success to maintain their perfect start in Group B.

Mo Salah opened the scoring in the 18th minute before Sadio Mane doubled the Reds’ advantage on the stroke of half-time.

Salah became the second-highest African scorer in Champions League history when he netted his second in the 60th minute.

Porto briefly got themselves back into the game through Mehdi Taremi but Roberto Firmino came off the bench to plunder a brace for Liverpool.

The heroes

- Curtis Jones: the homegrown midfielder ran the show in the engine room. His shot led to Salah’s breakthrough before Jones displayed magnificent composure in the second half to get his head up and find Salah in space for an easy finish. Man of the match.

- Mo Salah: will the winger’s rich goalscoring vein of form ever come to an end? Salah’s double in Portugal took his tally to eight goals in as many matches this season.

- James Milner: for the second time this season, the veteran was forced to fill in for Trent Alexander-Arnold. Yet again he deputised magnificently. He nullified the threat of Porto talisman Luis Diaz and his teasing cross put Mane’s goal on a plate.

The villains

- Diogo Costa: the home keeper had an evening to forget. He should have pushed Jones’ effort wider which led to Salah breaking the deadlock and then bizarrely pulled his hands out of the way of Milner’s cross for Mane’s strike. Then, after Porto had given themselves a lifeline, he - for some unfathomable reason - raced off his line and allowed Firmino to stroke home. A disastrous performance would be a kind way of saying it.

- Zaidu Sanusi: failed to react quickly enough after Costa’s error, leaving Salah with an empty net. Also looked shaky trying to thwart the Reds.

- Sergio Conceicao: the Porto boss comes no closer to finding a way to beat Liverpool. This was the fifth time the two sides met since 2018. Liverpool lead a whopping 16-2 on aggregate.

Player ratings

Porto (4-2-3-1): Costa 2, Corona 5, Cardoso 4, Marcano 4 , Zaidu 4 (Wendell 56; 5) , Oliveira 5, Uribe 5(Vitinha 56; 5), Otavio 5 (Viera 13; 6) , Díaz 6, Taremi 6, Martinez 5 (Grujic 46; 5).

Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson 7, Milner 8 (Gomes 66; 6), Matip 7, van Dijk 7, Robertson 8, Fabinho 7, Henderson 8 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 73; 6), Jones 9, Salah 8 (Firmino 66; 8), Jota 7 (Origi 88), Mane 7 (Minamino 67; 6).

What’s next

Klopp’s troops have another crunch game on their hands this weekend.

Liverpool welcome Premier League title rivals Manchester City to Anfield on Sunday (16.30 BST).