Champions League draw analysis: Liverpool should be wary of capable Porto side in round of 16

A closer look at the task facing Jürgen Klopp's side in the last 16

Liverpool qualified with victory over Spartak Moscow at Anfield last week (Getty)

On the surface, of all Liverpool's potential knockout phase opponents, Porto were certainly one of the more preferable choices.

An early exit would have been expected if Xabi Alonso had drawn his former club against one of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Juventus. All three have issues this season but all three have consistently progressed to the latter stages of this competition in recent years as well.

Basel and Shakhtar Donetsk offered kinder ties but both came with drawbacks. Ask Gerard Houllier and Brendan Rodgers about their memories of playing at St Jakob's Park in this competition for starters. They are not pleasant. Neither is a trip to Kharkiv in February. The Iberian coastline is much nicer.

Porto's record in the Champions League this season, meanwhile, offers yet more hope. Sergio Conceicao's side qualified with the fewest points of any of the six clubs Liverpool could have faced and did so in arguably one of the more favourable, if still one of the most evenly-balanced groups.

Though they scored 15 goals, with five coming in their final match against last season's semi-finalists Monaco, Porto shipped 10 – four more than Liverpool – and were beaten by the other two in Group G: Naby Keita's RB Leipzig and this year's surprise packages, Besiktas. On the surface, it is a favourable draw.

That's just the surface though, and for an impression of how much a surface-level reading tells you about a team, apply the same method to Liverpool. Do that, and you have a team that qualified with the second-fewest points of any group winner, winning only three times in another relatively favourable group: twice against the champions of Slovenia and just once against the champions of Russia.

The point stands: Porto may have been one of the kindest draws on offer to Liverpool in the round of 16, but Liverpool were one of the kindest on offer to Porto too. Having avoided the likes of Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City, the 1987 and 2004 European Cup winners will by no means dread this two-legged match-up, especially as they have the attributes to frustrate and perhaps overcome Klopp's side.

Aboubakar has been in excellent form for Porto (Getty)

Conceicao prefers a organised, disciplined 4-4-2 and is not afraid to play off the back foot and have his players sit tight to frustrate opponents – a style Liverpool have encountered problems against on occasions this season, not least in Sunday's Merseyside derby. Hector Herrera, the club captain, and Danilo Pereira will marshal the midfield.

Offensively, Porto's success will depend on the talents of Vincent Aboubakar, a physically-imposing striker who has an excellent record in front of goal this season, boasting 20 goals in 22 appearance so far. Yacine Brahimi is Conceicao's creator-in-chief but left-back Alex Telles also contributes heavily, particularly from set pieces.

To progress, Liverpool will have to produce the kind of performances seen in August's play-off against Hoffenheim, when they did well to manage the peculiarities of a two-legged tie. Even though Porto know how to defend deep, Klopp's greatest asset remains the attacking quartet of Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah.

If those four players produce a display similar to the one seen against Hoffenheim at home, during the first half hour in Seville and last Wednesday night against Spartak Moscow to seal qualification, then Liverpool will have an excellent chance of reaching the last eight.