Liverpool virtually booked their place in the Champions League’s last eight with a five-goal demolition of Porto.

Sadio Mane ended his recent goal drought to open the scoring as his shot squirmed under the hosts’ goalkeeper Jose Sa midway through the first half.

A second followed not long after when Mohamed Salah recorded his 30th goal of the season to put Jurgen Klopp’s side comfortably ahead at the interval.

The Reds then delivered a scintillating second-half with Roberto Firmino and a further two from Mane, the latter a superb long-range strike from the edge of the box.

Here were the key talking points from Oporto:

Mane officially back in business

 

It has been hard not to feel sorry for Sadio Mane this season.

With Mohamed Salah breaking records left, right and centre and Roberto Firmino now widely considered world-class, he has often found himself overlooked.

Both the Senegalese forward and Jurgen Klopp would have openly admitted that he has been struggling for form during recent weeks.

A hat-trick at the Estadio do Dragao means that is now very much in the past.

Mane was back to his unstoppable best, taking home the match ball with a goal only a player supremely confident in their own abilities is capable of scoring.

If this was him beginning to rediscover his old form, Liverpool’s upcoming opponents should be quaking in their collective boots.

Reds finally master game management

 

For all Liverpool’s attacking verve and ability to thrill, it is often their inability to control a game that is their undoing.

Time and time again, they have been exposed by their inability to see out a game and secure a win – particularly in this competition’s group stages.

Yet against Porto, they showed that is a skill they do have in their lockers after all; controlling the ball, tempo and their opponents from the very first whistle.

All fof Liverpool’s goals, but particularly the final three, came from careful game management, happy to wait and hit Porto on the counter to devastating effect.

That is the kind of smart football they have failed to show before and a far more exciting development than their ability to put the ball into the back of the net.

Bring on the last-eight elite

 

Expect the Champions League bookmakers’ odds to tumble drastically now.

Liverpool headed to Porto placed at 14/1 to win this season’s competition before facing a talented side that was previously unbeaten in 24 games on home soil.

Their latest five-goal haul means that the visitors have scored 28 times on the continental stage, seeing them overtake Paris Saint-Germain as its top scorers.

Les Parisiens were among the favourites to win the competition, primarily due to boasting an attacking triumvirate of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani.

A 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid threatens to spell the end of PSG’s European adventure, meaning Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino can take their place.

Both the bookmakers and Europe’s elite will certainly believe so on this evidence.

Salah’s remarkable tale continues

 

It is almost inevitable that Salah ends up on the score sheet these days.

His strike here, one of composed brilliance that the world’s best, both past and present, would be proud of took him to 30 in all competitions this season.

Only one player in the club’s entire history has reached that tally faster than Salah has, with George Allan setting the record some 122 years ago.

He is also the first player to hit that amount in a single season for Liverpool since Luis Suarez and became just the 13th player in their history to do so.

Those three records have just been added to a ever-growing list of achievements for the Egypt international in his debut season at Anfield.

If he continues this form, the records will continue to tumble in his wake.