Jurgen Klopp says he is wary of the threat Porto carry, despite Liverpool knocking the Portuguese side out of Europe last season. Reuters
Jurgen Klopp says he is wary of the threat Porto carry, despite Liverpool knocking the Portuguese side out of Europe last season. Reuters
Jurgen Klopp says he is wary of the threat Porto carry, despite Liverpool knocking the Portuguese side out of Europe last season. Reuters
Jurgen Klopp says he is wary of the threat Porto carry, despite Liverpool knocking the Portuguese side out of Europe last season. Reuters

Jurgen Klopp hails Liverpool's European progression ahead of Porto Champions League tie


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Match info

Champions League quarter-final, first leg

Liverpool v Porto, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)

Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hailed his side's development in European competition ahead of their Champions League quarter-final against Porto.

Speaking at a pre-match press conference ahead of Tuesday;'s first leg at Anfield, he said: "Our development has been incredible. The Europa League ride was brilliant until Basel [2016 final loss to Sevilla] and the Champions League was exactly the same until Kiev [2018 final loss to Real Madrid].

"We have much more positive moments in these competitions than negative. And that helps the team but that doesn't mean anything for the game tomorrow night, only that we are now a bit more experienced and we saw that in the second game against Bayern [in the last 16].

"Everyone was like, when we drew here in the 0-0 first leg that 'that's not enough'. We didn't even think it. It was clear we had a chance in Munich and we used that chance. Now we have to face Porto with exactly the same respect, nothing is different."

Liverpool's place in the last 16 was secured largely down to two goals from Sadio Mane in the last month's 3-1 win over Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena.

Mane's opener, in particular, will live long in the memory. The Senegalese attacker gave a demonstration of his pace, skill and calmness in front of goal as he controlled a raking long pass from Virgil van Dijk, rounded Manuel Neuer and then dinked the ball into an unguarded net.

As Mohamed Salah's goals dried up in an eight-game drought prior to Friday's 3-1 win at Southampton, Mane assumed the mantle as chief goal getter with 11 in his last 13 Liverpool appearances taking his tally for the season to 20.

Porto are already very aware of the threat Mane poses.

When the sides met in the last of the Champions League last season, he scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 first leg rout in northern Portugal that killed the tie as a contest even before it even returned to Anfield.

This time round, Liverpool will be keen to get the job done in the first leg on home soil.

Despite having already conquered Tuesday's opponents over two legs last season, Klopp is wary of the threat of Porto.

"They are a very experienced team, they are together with Benfica first in the table in Portugal," Klopp added. "Really strong side, more experienced than last season, so it's a different game to last year. We have to play it again and we want to play it again.

"We were very clinical that night [the 5-0 win]. But they can use the game last year as a motivational thing, we cannot do that.

"When we analysed them last season no-one thought it would be 5-0 but in that situation we were difficult to deal with. It can be a bit of a wild game as they are good at counter-pressing, creative in midfield and full-backs are good crossers."

Liverpool defender Van Dijk readily admits his side are favourites to reach the semi-finals.

"I think Liverpool as a club, if you look at the whole season and results at Anfield especially, we will go into tomorrow as favourites," the Dutchman said. "We have to enjoy it and perform.

"We know it will be tough. They don't want to experience what they experienced last year."

Van Dijk added on a potential Premier League - Liverpool are two points clear of second-placed Manchester City - and Champions League double: "We are still in both races so it's possible.

"It's game-by-game. Tomorrow we hopefully set a base to take with us to Porto. In the Premier League we know any slip can end our title dreams.

"We should play with freedom otherwise we can't show our qualities properly. But I don't think there's room for slip-ups in the Champions League either.

"Hopefully it can be great at the end of the season."

Favourite book: ‘The Art of Learning’ by Josh Waitzkin

Favourite film: Marvel movies

Favourite parkour spot in Dubai: Residence towers in Jumeirah Beach Residence

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
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Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

City's slump

L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1

The specs

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While you're here
About Karol Nawrocki

• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.

• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.

• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.

• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.

England World Cup squad

Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Bombshell

Director: Jay Roach

Stars: Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie 

Four out of five stars 

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

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SPECS

Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
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Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Disclaimer

Director: Alfonso Cuaron 

Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville 

Rating: 4/5

Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid

When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

LAST-16 EUROPA LEAGUE FIXTURES

Wednesday (Kick-offs UAE)

FC Copenhagen (0) v Istanbul Basaksehir (1) 8.55pm

Shakhtar Donetsk (2) v Wolfsburg (1) 8.55pm

Inter Milan v Getafe (one leg only) 11pm

Manchester United (5) v LASK (0) 11pm 

Thursday

Bayer Leverkusen (3) v Rangers (1) 8.55pm

Sevilla v Roma  (one leg only)  8.55pm

FC Basel (3) v Eintracht Frankfurt (0) 11pm 

Wolves (1) Olympiakos (1) 11pm 

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

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Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

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  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

'Manmarziyaan' (Colour Yellow Productions, Phantom Films)
Director: Anurag Kashyap​​​​​​​
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal​​​​​​​
Rating: 3.5/5

Chinese Grand Prix schedule (in UAE time)

Friday: First practice - 6am; Second practice - 10am

Saturday: Final practice - 7am; Qualifying - 10am

Sunday: Chinese Grand Prix - 10.10am

Six large-scale objects on show
  • Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
  • The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
  • A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
  • Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
  • A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
  • Torrijos Palace dome
While you're here
ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

'Moonshot'

Director: Chris Winterbauer

Stars: Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse 

Rating: 3/5

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Match info

Champions League quarter-final, first leg

Liverpool v Porto, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)

Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports