Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said his team had to “fight again” after beating Porto 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at Anfield yesterday.
Naby Keita and Roberto Firmino struck inside the first 26 minutes to put the hosts in command and Liverpool’s only regret may be not building a more emphatic lead to take to northern Portugal for next week’s second leg.
“We are happy, it is the first leg and it will be an intense second game,” Klopp told BT Sport. “We scored two goals and controlled the ball most of the time.
“We gave a few too many set pieces away. I think Porto score about 40 % of their goals from set pieces. We also saw one or two counter-attacks, but the rest of the game we played really well.
“We lost a little bit of direction in the second half, but there’s nothing to criticise, 2-0 is a very, very good result.
“We knew we had to play the second game and we cannot decide the tie tonight, so now we have to go there and fight again.”
Liverpool, who were losing Champions League finalists last year, are top of the Premier League.
Meanwhile, Virgil van Dijk says Liverpool can win a Premier League and Champions League double after they took charge of their European quarter-final against Porto.
Unlike their last-16 clash just over a year ago, when Liverpool won the first leg in Portugal 5-0 to render the return fixture a formality, Tuesday’s victory at Anfield still leaves some work to do.
Van Dijk knows they will have to put in an improved performance next Wednesday as their opponents have shown they can cause them the occasional scare.
“Obviously we know it’s going to be a tough game and to score two good goals was very important but the clean sheet was the most important thing,” said the Dutch player.
“We have something to build on. We kept pressing, we kept going — we played very well I think.”
The result keeps Liverpool on track for a dream double — they lead the Premier League by two points from Manchester City — and Van Dijk believes it is possible to win both trophies.
“We should be confident. It’s a great time to be a Liverpool player,” he said. “Hopefully. There are (a maximum) of nine games left in total if all goes well, fingers crossed.
“Let’s give everything we’ve got and have a well-deserved break after.”
Firmino popped up with the second goal for his 14th in the Champions League for Liverpool and only Steven Gerrard (30) has more for the club in the competition.
The Brazil international has also cautioned against complacency next week.
“It was an important victory. We’ve taken the first step,” he told liverpoolfc.com. “We played well and we scored goals. Now we have to keep our feet on the ground because the next game will be difficult as well.
“And we have to give it our all away at their stadium.”