Porto 1-1 Liverpool

It was a poor performance by Liverpool after their goalless draw against Portsmouth last Saturday. The match was a difficult away tie to Porto, a strong side, and they showed their quality against Liverpool while not even being at their best form so far, which just goes to show how poorly the Reds performed. A draw is a respectable result for a match at Porto, and the point is valuable. However, the performance was terrible, and Porto deserved all three points.

The game started off with Porto immediately taking it into control and dominating Liverpool for the first ten minutes. Within that time, Hyypia's lack of pace allowed the Porto striker to get into the area, forcing Reina to close him down. He played for the penalty, kicking the ball beyond both players' reach and allowing Reina to take him down. The penalty was coolly sent down the middle, Reina having dived a split second too early. The goalkeeper's frustration was evident as he smashed the ball back into the net. It was a penalty he could have saved, although it seemed like Porto had done their research on Reina and knew that he dives early.

Thankfully, Liverpool soon equalized with their first real attack. Finnan swung the free kick towards the far post, where Hyypia nodded it back into the danger area for Kuyt to finish with a close range header that left the keeper with no chance. It was a lucky break for Liverpool, equalizing with their first chance at goal. After both sides' goals, the match turned back in Porto's favour as they dominated the half. Liverpool were struggling to put together a short string of passes even, and Porto used their wingers to attack the slow Liverpool defenders.

In the second half, Liverpool upped their game slightly, but Porto still found themselves with the better opportunities. Quaresma showed some of his skills and fancy flicks, but to no real end product. Porto's best chance came when Reina punched the ball to a player just outside the penalty box. Reina rushed out, and managed to deflect the strike with his shoulder, taking the sting out of the shot for Hyypia to clear from in front of the goal. Just before the hour, Pennant received a second yellow card for a reckless tackle, one that was absolutely uncalled for, the ball having gone out of play already. The remaining thirty minutes Liverpool hung in there, and Aurelio's brief touches and delivery looked good for someone who had just returned to match action, and Liverpool can look forward to his delivery once more.

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News from 20/9/2007: Agger and Alonso have injured their feet, and both are out for four to six weeks. Agger suffered a stress fracture to his second metatarsal while Alonso suffered a stress fracture to his fourth metatarsal. Losing both players is a great loss to Liverpool, for both are important squad members. Agger is especially vital to bringing the ball out of defense rather than the long ball from Hyypia or Carragher, and Alonso dictates the passing and movement from the heart of midfield. This could be a chance for Hobbs and Leiva to prove themselves, and it would be interesting to see them feature at some point in this six weeks.