Premier Lague: Salah’s brace and Jota’s strike see Liverpool beat Brentford
Mohamed Salah scored a brace as Liverpool moved up to second in the Premier League with a 3-0 win over Brentford at Anfield.
An in-form Liverpool side effectively sealed their place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals as they swept aside FC Porto 5-0 at the Dragao Stadium in their round-of-16 first leg clash on Wednesday.
Sadio Mane, derided for his poor scoring form of late, fired the perfect riposte to his critics with a hat-trick while fellow forwards Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah also got in on the act to give Jurgen Klopp’s men an insurmountable lead.
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Mane would open the scoring in the 25th minute fortuitously, with his shot trickling in under Porto custodian Jose Sa’s body before Salah doubled the visitors’ lead four minutes later with a nifty piece of skill to register his 30th goal of the season.
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At half-time, Liverpool were home and dry but they didn’t let up the pressure in the second-half and Mane would add to his tally for the night in the 53rd minute before Firmino got himself on the scoresheet with little over 20 minutes left in the tie.
Mane wasn’t done, however, and would get his hat-trick five minutes from time to put up an embarrassing scoreline for the hosts, who never truly threatened Loris Karius’ goal over the course of the 90 minutes played.
The second leg takes place at Anfield on March 6 but for all intents and purposes, the Reds are through to the last-eight and it would take a miracle or disaster (depending on your viewpoint) to stop their progression in the continental competition.
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It’s been a good week for Premier League clubs in the UEFA Champions League as Tottenham Hotspur battled to a 2-2 draw at Juventus while Manchester City routed FC Basel 4-0 away on Tuesday and Liverpool followed it up with a dominant performance barely 24 hours later.
In the other round-of-16 clash on the night, holders Real Madrid came from behind to beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu thanks to a brace from star forward Cristiano Ronaldo and a solitary strike from fullback Marcelo. Adrien Rabiot netted for the visitors.
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