Daily Times

LISBON: Liverpool took charge of their Champions League quarter-final against Benfica on Tuesday as Sadio Mane, Ibrahima Konate and Luis Diaz gave them a 3-1 lead after the first leg in Lisbon. Konate nodded in his first Liverpool goal from a corner before Mane tapped home to put the visitors in command at the Estadio da Luz. Benfica made a game of it early in the second half when a Konate error allowed the lively Darwin Nunez to pull one back, but Diaz, who was superb all night, added a third to put Liverpool in sight of the semis. “They fought for their lives. We opened the door a little bit for them,” said Jurgen Klopp. “We scored a third one and I think everyone agrees we could and should have scored more.”

Liverpool will be confident of finishing the job at Anfield next week, with Klopp comfortable enough to take off Mohamed Salah, Mane and Thiago Alcantara after an hour. Salah, in particular, was surely being preserved for Sunday, when Liverpool face Manchester City in what could prove to be the decisive match in the Premier League’s neck-and-neck title race.

The only disappointment was that Salah was unable to get on the scoresheet, with the Egyptian missing a handful of chances. “Every player in that situation wants to score and it’s clear Mo wants to score as well,” said Klopp. “It’s a tough period, the boys came back from Africa and that’s really not easy. Massive pressure. They need some time to settle, everything will be fine.” Benfica are dotted between a Liverpool-City league and cup double-header, with the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley coming after the second leg next week, before Klopp’s team continue a crunch period with league games against Manchester United and local rivals Everton.