PORTO V LIVERPOOL: STAT ATTACK

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Here are all the important stas and facts ahead of Tuesday night's Champions League clash against Porto.



  

Liverpool's European Record (overall): Pld 276 Won 158 Drawn 58 Lost 60
  

Liverpool's record in European Cup: Pld 145 Won 86 Drawn 29 Lost 30
  

This will be the eighth time Liverpool have met Portuguese opposition in Europe. On four occasions they have gone on to reach the Final. Apart from Porto they have met Vitoria Setubal, Benfica and Boavista.
  

Their first ever opponents in the Group Stages of this competition were Portuguese-Boavista in 2001.
  

Only twice have Liverpool been eliminated by teams from Portugal. Setubal beat them on away goals in the Fairs Cup in 1969-70 while Benfica won home and away in the last 16 of this competition two seasons ago.
  

This is the second time the Reds have been drawn to play Porto. In 2000-01 they drew 0-0 here in the UEFA Cup Quarter Final before winning 2-0 at Anfield in the return with first half goals from Danny Murphy and Michael Owen.
  

Only Samui Hyypia, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard who played in those games are still at the club.
  

In Portugal, the Reds have won two, drawn two and lost three of their seven games. The two victories came at Benfica in 1978 and 1984.
  

Liverpool have kept five clean sheets in their last seven games in Europe.
  

The Reds are now just four goals short of recording 500 in European competition.
  

Away from home in the Group Stages of the Champions League the Reds have won six and lost just four of their 18 matches. Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez have each been in charge for nine of those games with four of those victories coming under the current manager.
  

The Reds have lost just 10 of the 46 games played in Europe under Rafa Benitez.
  

Liverpool have scored 15 hat-tricks in Europe down the years with the last coming in July 2005 when Steven Gerrard scored three against TNS at Anfield.
  

Steven Gerrard is one goal away from joining Ian Rush in second place in the club's all-time European goalscoring charts. Rush has 20 and only Michael Owen with 22 has scored more.
  

Dirk Kuyt now has three goals for the Reds in Europe with them being scored in his last two games.
  

Peter Crouch has scored eight goals in his last ten starts in the competition and is now in the club's all time top ten goalscorers in the competition.
  

If Pepe Reina keeps a clean sheet he will equal Jerzy Dudek in third place on the all-time club list with 17 in Europe. Dudek played 39 times while this will be Reina's 30th appearance.

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Liverpool lost twice on their travels last season in reaching the Final. They were beaten 3-2 in a “dead rubber” at Galatasaray in the Group Stages and lost by the only goal at Chelsea in the Semi-Final.
  

Porto's European Record (overall): Pld 255 Won 117 Drawn 55 Lost 83
  

Porto's record in European Cup: Pld 151 Won 64 Drawn 37 Lost 50
  

The club was founded in 1893 and they are known as ‘the Dragons'.
  

Their colours of blue and white were chosen as a meaning of pureness, calmness and stillness of mind.
  

They have won the league title in Portugal 22 times and the Cup on 13 occasions.
  

When they won their domestic Championship in 1996 they were managed by Bobby Robson.
  

Last season Porto won the league title by one point from Sporting with Benfica a further point behind in third place.
  

In the last 25 league seasons Porto have finished in the top two on 24 occasions -15 as Champions and nine as runners-up. The only blemish on that record was in 2001-02 when they finished third.
  

Like Liverpool, Porto have won the European Cup and UEFA Cup but lost in the Cup Winners Cup Final. They won the European Cup in 1987 and repeated the feat under Jose Mourinho in 2004 a year after beating Celtic to lift the UEFA Cup.
  

This is their 13th season in the Champions League, equalling the record of Manchester United. They won it under its current format in 2004 beating Monaco 3-0 in Gelsenkirchen with a team that included Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira, Nuno Valente, Pedro Mendes, Benni McCarthy and Deco.
  

They have only missed out on the Champions League in three seasons (1994-95, 2000-01 and 2002-03).
  

Porto have finished as group winners only once (in 1996-97) and runners up six times at the first Group Stage.
  

Last season they finished as runners-up to Arsenal in Group G before losing 3-2 to Chelsea in the last 16.
  

Since losing to Real Madrid in the opening game of the 2003-04 season at home Porto have won eight and drawn seven of their 16 subsequent games on their own ground in this competition. The only side to emerge victorious from the Estadio de Dragao are Artmedia who won 3-2 two years ago. In that time they have faced Chelsea (three times), Inter Milan (twice) plus Manchester United, Arsenal and Lyon.
  

They have never lost at home to an English club in ten previous meetings.
  

At the club is a player who has scored against Liverpool in the Premiership. Helder Postiga scored for Tottenham in a 2-1 win at White Hart Lane in January 2004. Injury however is likely to rule him out of this match.
  

Marek Cech scored Slovakia's injury time equaliser in the 2-2 draw with Republic Of Ireland ten days ago.
  

Lisandro has scored in each of the last two games including the only goal in the 1-0 win in the top of the table clash with Maritimo last Saturday.

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  PORTO V LIVERPOOL: STAT ATTACK
Ged Rea 18 September 2007  


Scorers this season (Europe in brackets):-
  
Liverpool: Torres 3 (0), Voronin 3 (1), Alonso 2 (0), Kuyt 2 (2), Babel 1 (0), Crouch 1 (1), Gerrard 1 (0), Hyypia 1 (1), Sissoko 1 (0), own goals 1 (0).
  
Porto: (all league): Lisandro 2, Quaresma 2, Raul Meireles 1, Sektioui 1, Joao Paulo 1.