Liverpool must end long spell of Champions League underachievement against Porto

Liverpool have not reached the knockout stages of the Champions League for nine years

Can Liverpool go back to where the club believes they should be? (Getty)

Liverpool’s last appearance in the knockout stages of the Champions League was closer to the release of ‘Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)’ by Spiller and Sophie Ellis-Bexter than to the present day. If you are struggling to remember that particular number, think the first series of Big Brother, won by Liverpool-born bricklayer Craig Philips, or the election of George W. Bush.

This was mid-to-late 2000 and, from here on over the next nine years, Anfield would enjoy a period of sustained European success. It started with Gerard Houllier’s Uefa Cup triumph the following May, continued in Istanbul some five years later, and culminated four years on from then in a manic 7-5 aggregate quarter-final defeat to Chelsea.

At the time of that particular elimination, Jürgen Klopp was a mere nine months into his spell at Borussia Dortmund. Mohamed Salah was a teenager catching the eye in the youth ranks of Cairo’s El Mokawloon. Trent Alexander-Arnold still had a year left of primary school. In case you had not gathered by now, it was a long time ago. Too long.

This recent record of disappointment jars with Liverpool’s own understanding of its stature, history and financial clout. A club that can lay claim to being one of the game’s greatest, with five European Cups to its name and a place inside the upper echelon of Deloitte’s much-vaunted ‘Money League’ should be able to boast of more than one last-eight Champions League appearance over the last decade.

Yet that is the context Klopp and his players find themselves in before they take to the Estadio do Dragao pitch on Wednesday night to play Porto, and despite many interpreting the tie to be a kind one for Liverpool, it could be easily read as one between the last-16’s outstanding over-achievers and its outstanding under-achievers.

Porto are yet to repeat their Jose Mourinho-inspired triumph of 2004 and lift the European Cup for a third time in their history, but they continue to punch at or above their weight against the continent’s great names. There have been four knockout-phase appearances since Liverpool’s last, for example. Uefa’s rankings of club performance in European competition over the past five years put them ninth, ahead of all English football’s contenders bar Manchester City, one place above them in eighth.

As for the current iteration, Sergio Conceicao’s side progressed from arguably the most evenly-matched group, ahead of last year’s semi-finalists Monaco and the fancied RB Leipzig. This was, in part, down to Conceicao’s taste for well-organised, disciplined safety-first football – an approach that Liverpool have struggled against at times, both before and during Klopp’s tenure.

Compare that to Liverpool themselves. In those same Uefa’s rankings of club performances over the last five years, Liverpool come rank last among those left, below even surprise qualifiers Besiktas. There has been just one sorry group stage elimination from this competition since 2009, surrounded by a few mixed and all ultimately unsuccessful ventures through the Europa League.

Though Klopp’s side enter this tie having taken Group E, they finished above runners-up Sevilla with the second-fewest total points of any group stage winner. Their victories were emphatic – a 7-0, a 3-0 and another 7-0 – but they only came against Slovenian and Russian outfits that performed well below the required standard.

Following December’s draw in Nyon, the message from Portugal’s second city was that though Liverpool may feel they had a favourable opponent in Porto, Porto felt the same about Liverpool. Group G’s runners-up could have faced Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain or Barcelona. Instead, they would have to overcome a club who last met expectations in this competition almost a decade ago. Liverpool’s failure to compete at this level consistently has only made them less intimidating and served to encourage their opponents.

The good news, though, is that recent track records should count for little over the course of this two-legged tie, which sees Liverpool’s potent attacking talents come up against a functional but eminently beatable side. This draw, rather than one against other runners-up in Real Madrid, Juventus or Bayern Munich, gives Klopp a reasonable chance of breaking that long spell of underachievement and securing at least a quarter-final finish.

That, as it has been for the last nine years, is this club’s minimum requirement.