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SALAH, FIRMINO ON THE DOUBLE AS LIVERPOOL WIN BIG IN PORTO

Mohamed Salah struck twice as Liverpool sauntered to a 5-1 victory against injury-struck FC Porto to seize command of a daunting looking Champions League Group B on Tuesday.

Substitute Roberto Firmino also grabbed a brace as Liverpool negotiated a tricky-looking fixture on paper with ease.

Liverpool top the group with six points from two games, ahead of Atletico Madrid who have four points.

“It’s definitely not job done as we have four games to play. We had two good performances, applied ourselves well and got results we deserved,” Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson, who made his 400th appearance for the club, said.

“It’s a good start but it is far from over.”

It was a miserable night for Porto — who have now conceded 14 goals in their last three home games against Liverpool — and especially keeper Diogo Costa who produced a woeful display.

Porto were dealt a blow before kick-off when captain and centre back Pepe was injured in the warm-up and the hosts were further handicapped when midfielder Otavio lasted only 13 minutes before hobbling off with a hamstring injury.

Liverpool took ruthless advantage of Porto’s woes with Salah tapping in following a mistake by Costa after 17 minutes. Curtis Jones crossed from the left and, as the goalkeeper fumbled, the ball fell to Salah who could not miss.

They doubled their lead just before half-time when Sadio Mane scored from close range with Costa again culpable after letting a low cross from James Milner across the area.

Salah made it 3-0 on the hour with a typically neat finish before Porto rallied with Mehdi Taremi heading past Alisson.

Any hope of a late Porto comeback was extinguished, however, when Costa made a mad dash from his goal and substitute Firmino rolled a shot into an empty net.

Porto’s misery was complete when Firmino grabbed his second of the night in the 81st minute.

After being drawn in the toughest group, Liverpool will be hugely satisfied with their start, having beaten Milan in a scintillating opener at Anfield a fortnight ago.

Liverpool have scored at least three goals in their last six matches in all competitions for only the third time in the club’s history and head into this weekend’s big Premier League clash at home to English champions Manchester City on a high.

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LIVERPOOL AND ENGLAND WORLD CUP WINNER, ROGER HUNT DIES AT 83

English footballer Roger Hunt of Liverpool FC, UK, November 1967. (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Roger Hunt, a striker in the only England team to win the World Cup and Liverpool’s all-time record league scorer, has died. He was 83.

Liverpool, where Hunt spent most of his playing career, said he died on Monday after a long illness.

Hunt’s three goals at the 1966 World Cup helped England to advance from the group stage. He went on to feature in all six games at the tournament, culminating in the 4-2 victory over West Germany in the final at Wembley Stadium when he partnered hat-trick scorer Geoff Hurst up front. It remains England’s only major football title.

“I never had any guarantees that I’d get in the squad,” Hunt recalled last year in an interview with the Liverpool Echo newspaper. “There was such a bulk of forwards that I had to be at the top of (my) game to get in at that time. There was always Jimmy (Greaves who died this month). He was the best player at the time. He was so established while I was in and out of the England team.”

By that time Hunt had already won two league titles with Liverpool – in 1964 and earlier in 1966. With 245 goals, Hunt is the club’s highest scorer in league games. Overall, Hunt scored 285 goals in 492 appearances for Liverpool from 1958 to 1969 before moving to Bolton.

“Roger Hunt comes second to no-one in his importance in the history of Liverpool FC, that much is clear,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said on Tuesday. “To be the goalscoring catalyst of the Shankly team to actually achieve promotion and then go on to win those precious league titles and the FA Cup puts him in a bracket of LFC legends who are responsible for making us the club we are today. Not only that, he was also a World Cup winner in 1966, too.”

Hunt wasn’t knighted by Queen Elizabeth II but he was proclaimed “Sir Roger” by Liverpool fans, who raise a banner to him on the Kop at every match.

Hunt was honoured only in 2000 for his sporting achievements by the queen, being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire among the so-called forgotten heroes of the 1966 World Cup.

“One of the greatest goal scorers our club has ever seen,” Jamie Carragher, a Liverpool player until 2013, tweeted. “Sir Roger along with the other Legends from the 60s made LFC the club it is today.”

Hunt was born in the northwest English county of Lancashire on July 20, 1938. He was on leave from national service in the army when he was spotted by Liverpool playing for amateur team Stockton Heath in 1958, going on to score on his home debut at Anfield.

In the 1961-62 season, Hunt scored 41 goals in as many games to help Liverpool win promotion to the top division as second-tier champions. He formed an attacking partnership with Ian St John, with both scoring in the 1965 final against Leeds as Liverpool won the FA Cup for the first time.

Having gone to the 1962 World Cup but never playing, Hunt made a significant impact at the next tournament four years later for Alf Ramsey’s side.

He was the nearest player to the ball when Hurst scored the contentious second goal in the final. The shot hit the crossbar and bounced down over the line, according to England players and the referee but not the Germans who disputed the legitimacy of the goal.

Hunt instinctively celebrated, raising his arms which could have influenced linesman Tofiq Bahramov.

“People still say to me now, `Why didn’t you just put it in?’ because I was only four yards away,” Hurst told The Anfield Wrap website in 2015. “As Geoff Hurst hit it, I anticipated it, Wolfgang Weber was marking me but I got in front of him – I was there, ready if it didn’t go in.

“So it hits the underside of the bar and came down, I turned away because I thought it was over the line and would be bouncing into the roof of the net. But it went in, came back out – I was still convinced – and by then I couldn’t get it because it came out at an angle and Weber headed it away.”

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BRENTFORD HIT BACK TWICE TO SNATCH POINT IN THRILLING DRAW WITH LIVERPOOL

Mohamed Salah scored his 100th Premier League goal for Liverpool but it was not enough to beat Brentford, who twice pegged the Reds back in a breathless 3-3 draw.

Jurgen Klopp’s side were unable to reap the maximum profit from slip-ups by Manchester United and Chelsea earlier in the day as they shared the points after an early-evening cracker in west London.

Instead they moved just one point clear at the top, while preserving the top flight’s only remaining unbeaten record.

And Klopp will be relieved at that after Ivan Toney had what would have been a late winner ruled out for offside.

The German will also know his side will not face many tougher trips all season, with vibrant Brentford leading through Ethan Pinnock and, following goals from Diogo Jota and Salah, equalising through Vitaly Janelt.

Then, when Curtis Jones smashed Liverpool ahead again, Bees sub Yoane Wissa came up with another equaliser.

There was a taste of things to come when both teams were denied by goal-line clearances in the opening 10 minutes.

First Salah missed out on a seventh-minute opener thanks to a spectacular piece of defending from Kristoffer Ajer.

Jota’s through-ball sent Salah through and he rolled his shot past Bees keeper David Raya, but Ajer raced back and slid in to hook the ball off the line.

Moments later, at the other end, Bryan Mbeumo latched onto Toney’s flick-on and lifted the ball over Alisson, but this time Joel Matip got back to scoop the ball clear from underneath the crossbar.

Brentford were more than holding their own against the 2020 champions and were good value for the lead they took in the 27th minute.

Spanish winger Sergi Canos, who spent three years at Liverpool as a youngster but played only nine minutes for the first team, got down the Reds’ right and drilled in a low cross.

Toney helped the ball on at the near post and centre-half Pinnock was left with a tap-in.

The lead lasted barely three minutes, however, before Jordan Henderson swung in a cross from the right and Jota headed home at the far post.

Seven minutes before the interval Henderson teed up Jones on the edge of the area and his shot was deflected onto a post by Pinnock.

Jota should have been celebrating his second of the afternoon from the rebound but somehow Raya got his body in the way of the shot and it flew wide.

After the break Salah grabbed his landmark goal. The Egypt striker was was initially flagged offside as he tucked away Fabinho’s ball over the top, but a VAR check showed he was in fact onside.

Back came Brentford, though, and when Pontus Jansson slid in to crash Ajer’s cross onto the bar, Janelt popped up at the far post to force the loose ball home.

Jones blasted Liverpool back in front in the 67th minute. Moments after sending a long-range sighter high into the stands, the midfielder took aim again and his low drive took a deflection in a crowded penalty area as it flew past Raya.

Salah should have had goal number 101 after he was played in by Sadio Mane but he chipped the ball onto the roof of the net.

Moments later Bees sub Wissa arrived at the far post and produced a composed finish to equalise yet again, before Toney was denied a late winner by the linesman’s flag.

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LIVERPOOL TO EXTEND ANFIELD CAPACITY TO 61,000

Liverpool will formally start work next week on a project to increase the capacity of their Anfield home to more than 61,000.

The expansion, which was granted planning permission in June and has been undergoing enabling works throughout the off-season, is looking to add 7,000 seats to the Anfield Road Stand and is expected to be completed in time for the 2023-24 campaign.

The club said on Wednesday morning that work “will begin in earnest with an official ground-breaking ceremony planned for next week”.

Jurgen Klopp’s men will continue to play at the stadium while the building work, which will involve a re-route of Anfield Road itself, takes place.

Managing director Andy Hughes told the Reds’ website: “We have been clear from the beginning that in order for this expansion to go ahead we needed the co-operation of local residents and the community, to successfully navigate the complex planning landscape, and to ensure the project is financially viable.

“We needed certainty for this project to progress and are now in a position to be able to move forward. We began this journey in 2014 and are grateful to everyone for the contributions they have made to bring the project to this stage.”

The newly designed Anfield Road Stand will see the lower tier retained and refurbished, with a new upper tier built above

Buckingham Group Contracting Limited has been appointed principal contractor and will work closely with the Red Neighbours initiative and also local employment groups having entered into a commitment to offer work experience, apprenticeships, graduate placements and jobs to local people.

The expanded structure, which will be similar in design to the Main Stand and will include improved concourses and sports-bar lounge hospitality facilities, is expected to support around 400 matchday roles in addition to the 2,200 which currently exist.

It will also feature additional pedestrian routes into Stanley Park and “include historical design references”.

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SADIO MANE SCORES 100TH LIVERPOOL GOAL AS REDS THRASH CRYSTAL PALACE

Record-breaking Sadio Mane’s 100th Liverpool goal set Jurgen Klopp’s side on the way to 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace which took them top of the table.

Mane became the first player in Premier League history to score against the same opponent in nine consecutive matches, beating Robin van Persie’s eight in a row against Stoke

His close-range strike just before half-time also made him the 18th man to bring up a century of goals for the club in his 224th appearance.

Mohamed Salah’s rich form continued as his volley 12 minutes from time meant he has only failed to score in one of his six games this season with a sumptuous left-footed volley from substitute Naby Keita finishing proceedings with a flourish.

Just like against AC Milan in midweek Liverpool made hard work of a game in which they created numerous chances.

Klopp made six changes – including his entire back four – from the midweek Champions League tie which meant his side started a league match without either Andy Robertson (rested) or Trent Alexander-Arnold (ill) in the team for the first time since December 2018.

It did, however, afford Anfield its first look at summer signing Ibrahima Konate, lining up in central defence alongside the returning Virgil van Dijk.

Perhaps understandably there were some teething problems with a defence that had never played together before and a shaky start saw Alisson forced to tip Wilfried Zaha’s attempted lob from close range onto a post.

Konate was first extended in a foot race with Zaha, with the winger going down in the area but he did not appeal for a penalty and none was given.

The big centre-back passed his second test as well as, one-on-one with Christian Benteke, he blocked the striker’s near-post shot.

They were the rare Palace attacks as the home side dominated throughout and would have been ahead well before the 43rd minute had they shown more composure in front of goal.

Klopp’s side were frustrated for a long period by Palace’s discipline and organisation which saw them get men behind the ball quickly to regain their shape.

Diogo Jota fired over from a narrow angle after Kostas Tsimikas and Mane combined, Jordan Henderson’s far-post attempt was palmed behind, Thiago Alcantara’s weak shot was blocked by a crowd of defenders and an acrobatic Mane effort went for a corner.

But the worst came last as Thiago’s header was parried by Vicente Guaita only for Jota, who had a poor game against Milan, to blaze over from three yards.

Mane showed him how it should be done, however, when Salah’s glancing header from Tsimikas’ corner was half-stopped by the goalkeeper and the Senegal forward pounced to lash home.

Fewer chances were created in the second half as the game became scrappier before Palace boss Patrick Vieira turned to Odsonne Edouard, who scored twice on his debut last weekend, just past the hour.

But the direction of travel remained roughly the same with Guaita producing a double save from Mane and Salah.

Jordan Ayew wasted a promising opportunity when he opted to shoot rather than crossing for Zaha, who had escaped the clutches of James Milner for once in the game, while Edouard was smothered by Alisson as he somehow found space in the penalty area.

But the visitors’ hopes of snatching something from the game were snuffed out when Salah volleyed home at a corner, whipping his shirt off in celebration at his 99th Premier League goal for the club.

Alisson denied Edouard again before Keita added the gloss with a sweetly-struck shot.

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AHEAD LIVERPOOL-AC MILAN CLASH: HENDERSON HAILS SIMON KJAER’S LEADERSHIP, SAYS DANISH GOT EVERYONE’S RESPECT

Jordan Henderson has told Denmark skipper Simon Kjaer he has “the respect and admiration of everyone in football” for the part he played in saving team-mate Christian Eriksen’s life.

The Liverpool captain will go head to head with the 32-year-old AC Milan defender in the Champions League on Wednesday evening a little more than three months since Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest during his country’s 1-0 defeat by Finland in their opening group game at the Euro 2020 finals.

In a series of tweets referring to his programme notes for the Milan game, England midfielder Henderson said: “I’d like to welcome @acmilan’s @simonkjaer1989 to Anfield this evening. He set new standards of leadership during Euro 2020 when Christian Eriksen fell ill.

“I can’t even begin to imagine what that experience was like for the Denmark players and I’m hugely relieved that Christian continues to make a recovery, but as a captain I couldn’t help but be impressed by the way Simon conducted himself and led his team.

“I have seen that @UEFA have given Simon and the Denmark medical team the President’s Award, and that is both fitting and deserved.

“But I hope Simon also knows that he has the respect and admiration of everyone in football for what he did that night.”

Eriksen, 29, collapsed during the first half of the game at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on June 12.

Kjaer was one of the first players to reach his team-mate and perform first aid as medics rushed to Eriksen’s assistance, working to resuscitate him on the pitch before taking him to hospital, where he was fitted with a heart-starting device.

The Inter Milan playmaker has since undergone extensive tests and continues to be monitored. He was able to travel to Italy last month to visit his club’s training ground.

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Liverpool lining up club-record £80m Jude Bellingham swoop

Liverpool are reportedly preparing to launch a club-record £80m bid for Borussia Dortmund starlet Jude Bellingham.

The 18-year-old continues to impress for club and country since making the move to the Bundesliga from Birmingham City last year and remains contracted to BVB until the summer of 2025.

However, Bellingham’s impressive breakthrough has supposedly led to interest from top clubs such as Chelsea, who are said to be plotting a swoop for the teenager in 2022.

Now, the Daily Star claims that Jurgen Klopp has earmarked Bellingham as the perfect addition to his midfield, with the Reds failing to replace Georginio Wijnaldum in the most recent transfer window.

The report claims that Liverpool are ahead of Manchester United in the race for the England international, who remains content at Dortmund but is aware that a Premier League move may be inevitable.

Bellingham has already scored one goal and set up two more in three Bundesliga appearances this season, and he garnered significant praise for his performance in England’s 4-0 thrashing of Andorra at the weekend.

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Liverpool considering move for Real Madrid midfielder Marco Asensio

Real Madrid midfielder Marco Asensio has reportedly emerged as a potential transfer target for Liverpool.

Despite making a number of sales during the summer window, Jurgen Klopp opted to add just RB Leipzig defender Ibrahima Konate to his first-team squad.

However, according to todofichajes.com, the Merseyside giants may look to take advantage of any opportunities at the midway point of the season.

The report claims that Liverpool are interested in signing Asensio, who has been restricted to appearances off the substitutes’ bench during Real’s opening three La Liga fixtures under Carlo Ancelotti.

Liverpool are allegedly prepared to test the water with a bid of €35m (£30.07m) at a time when Asensio will have just 18 months remaining on his contract.

Los Blancos officials could be tempted into accepting an offer of that size ahead of pushing forward with plans to sign Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe.

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LIVERPOOL SATISFIED OVER NABY KEITA SAFETY, WORKING TO GET MIDFIELDER OUT OF GUINEA

Liverpool are in constant dialogue with the relevant authorities as they work to bring midfielder Naby Keita back from Guinea after an apparent military coup in the country.

The 26-year-old was on international duty in his homeland when a group of soldiers detained president Alpha Conde and volatility in the country – hours of heavy gunfire were reported around the presidential palace on Sunday – resulted in Guinea’s World Cup qualifier against Morocco on Monday being postponed.

But with all borders closed the visiting team were escorted to the airport after negotiations at embassy-level gave them special dispensation to leave Conakry.

Keita remains in Guinea but is “safe and well” and his club are working on solutions to bring him back to Merseyside.

“We are in constant contact with Naby and have had regular communication via his national team management,” said a Liverpool spokesman in a statement to the PA news agency.

“We are satisfied that he is safe and well cared for.

“Obviously the situation is fluid and we will maintain regular dialogue with the relevant authorities as we work to get Naby back to Liverpool in a timely and secure manner.”

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Jamie Carragher expecting Mohamed Salah to sign new Liverpool contract

Former Liverpool captain Jamie Carragher is confident that Mohamed Salah will soon sign a new contract with Jurgen Klopp‘s side.

Salah’s existing deal at Anfield is due to expire in June 2023, and there remains speculation surrounding the Egypt international’s future, with Real Madrid and Barcelona both said to be admirers.

A recent report claimed that the attacker had informed Liverpool that he wants £500,000 a week in wages to commit his future to the Merseyside club.

Carragher is confident that his former team will soon be able to announce a new deal for Salah, who has scored 127 goals and registered 49 assists in 206 appearances for the Reds.

“I think Liverpool have some of the best players in the world, with Alisson signing a six-year deal and Virgil van Djik. I think Mohamed Salah will be the next one to sign,” Carragher told Sky Sports News.

“In years gone by, certainly when I was at the club, if we had players of that quality, they would be going to Real Madrid or Barcelona. We’ve lost so many players over the years, but the club this year hasn’t spent much in the transfer market.

“We’ve bought [Ibrahima] Konate in for £36m and we’ve certainly recouped that through the sales. I think the money and expenditure this pre-season was going to go on new contracts, so that those players can stay at Liverpool for the rest of their careers.”

Liverpool will resume their 2021-22 Premier League season away to Leeds United on September 12.