UCL: Liverpool land in quarter-finals

Liverpool has safely booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2008-09 courtesy of a goalless draw against Porto at Anfield on Tuesday.
The Reds had all but sealed their last-eight spot with a memorable 5-0 triumph in the first leg at the Estadio do Dragao last month, and they comfortable saw out the second half of the tie on Merseyside to enter Friday’s draw with minimal fuss.
Sadio Mane came closest to a goal on the night when he hit the post in the first half, but Liverpool never needed to get out of second gear as they made it 14 European home games without defeat to become the first English side to make it through to the quarter-finals of this season’s competition.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp insisted before the match that he would not make wholesale changes despite facing Manchester United in a crucial Premier League match on Saturday, and sure enough the likes of Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane – the hat-trick hero from the first leg – were once again included.
Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk were among the players to be rested, though, while Porto made eight changes to their side from the first leg in a clear sign that their priorities lay elsewhere.
One of those saw Iker Casillas included for his unparalleled 171st – and likely final – Champions League appearance, but the experienced shot-stopper was barley tested in a first half which saw both sides fail to register a shot on target.
Liverpool did occasionally threaten to break the deadlock, though, and two of those came through Mane as first he showed impressive athleticism to turn Joe Gomez’s dangerous cross narrowly over the crossbar after it had just eluded Firmino.
The winger came even closer shortly after the half-hour mark when James Milner floated a perfectly-weighted pass over the top which Mane controlled on his chest before drilling a low strike past Casillas and against the inside of the post.
Dejan Lovren was the only other player to look like scoring when he looped Milner’s free kick onto the roof of the net, but despite both teams having scored 105 goals in 41 matches across all competitions heading into the match, the first half ended goalless and was more akin to a training contest than a Champions League knockout tie.
The hosts did make a brighter start to the second half and threatened within two minutes of the restart when Jordan Henderson, Alberto Moreno and Adam Lallana all combined to tee up Milner, who was at full stretch and could only slice his effort wide of the target.
Liverpool continued to control possession, though, and they almost added to their first-leg lead shortly before the hour mark when Firmino raced through on goal only to be denied by a sliding challenge from Felipe.
Liverpool barely broke sweat having done the hard work in the first leg, and they will now look forward to Friday’s draw before facing arch-rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday lunchtime.