Mohamed Salah struck twice as Liverpool sauntered to a 5-1 victory against injury-struck 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.
It was a miserable night for Porto -- which has now conceded 14 goals in its last three home games against Liverpool -- and especially keeper Diogo Costa who produced a woeful display.
Porto was dealt a blow before kickoff when captain and centre back Pepe was injured in the warm-up and the hosts was further handicapped when midfielder Otavio lasted only 13 minutes before hobbling off with a hamstring injury.
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Liverpool took ruthless advantage of Porto's woes with Salah tapping in following a mistake by Costa after 17 minutes and it doubled its lead just before halftime when Sadio Mane scored from close range with Costa again culpable.
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.
Liverpool tops the group with six points from two games, ahead of Atletico Madrid which has four points.
GOOD START
"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."
Liverpool has scored at least three goals in their last six matches in all competitions for only the third time in the club's history.
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