Henderson hails Liverpool's solid defensive display

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

Jurgen Klopp's side were far from their best against the Portuguese champions but have given themselves 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 they were unable to find a third that would have all but ended the tie as a contest.

Far from being disappointed with their failure to kill off Porto, Henderson preferred to focus on his side's ability to prevent them 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.

April 9, 2019

"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."