Porto vs Liverpool: 5 players who could decide the outcome

#4 Yacine Brahimi

Yacine Brahimi could be the key to unlocking Liverpool's defence

While he hasn’t scored as many goals this season as fellow Porto attackers Vincent Aboubakar and Moussa Marega, Algerian forward Yacine Brahimi is arguably the most important part of the Portuguese side’s ‘Three-Headed Dragon’ attack. Goal.com has called him the “most naturally gifted” of the trio, and has praised his creativity and dribbling – skills that should bode well for him in this tie with Liverpool.

He played well in the Champions League group stage, where he scored one goal and assisted in another, but in the Primeira Liga he’s assisted in 6 goals – a total only beaten by fellow attacking standout Alex Telles. But Brahimi has 5 league goals to Telles’ none, making him a far more dangerous prospect against Liverpool’s defence.

Given that the first leg of the tie takes place at Porto’s Estadio do Dragao stadium – a stadium that produced more goals than any other outside of Paris St. Germain’s Parc des Princes in the group stages of the Champions League, you can bet that Brahimi will be licking his lips at the prospect of taking on Liverpool’s defence. If they can’t handle his creativity, then he could hold the key to the tie.