Henderson hails Liverpool's solid defensive display

Liverpool held firm against Porto to prevent the Portuguese champion taking an away goal into next week's return fixture.

Jordan Henderson hailed the importance of Liverpool's clean sheet in Tuesday's 2-0 Champions League quarterfinal win over Porto.

Jurgen Klopp's side was far from its best against the Portuguese champion but has given itself a glorious chance of making the last four for the second consecutive season.

Naby Keita's second goal in less than a week got the Reds up and running after just five minutes before Roberto Firmino added a simple second in the 26th minute.

Liverpool did most of the pressing in the second half – Sadio Mane coming closest from long range – but it was unable to find a third that would have all but ended the tie as a contest.

Far from being disappointed with the failure to kill off Porto, Henderson preferred to focus on his side's ability to prevent it from scoring a precious away goal.

"They're a good team with good players," he told BT Sport . "You can see that they are dangerous going forward.

"They had a couple of half chances but overall we're pleased with the 2-0. The clean sheet is important.

"We wanted to come out in the second half and score a few more but that wasn't the case. Overall, we're pleased with the 2-0 to take over there."

Virgil van Dijk endured a bruising encounter with the lively Moussa Marega and the Dutchman says he relishes those kinds of encounters.

"He's a strong guy, tough to play against," he said. "I enjoy these battles.

"We kept a clean sheet, scored two good goals – we can definitely build on that."