Liverpool have been for long giants slouched under a glass ceiling. The 0-5 win vs Porto could be as important for Klopp as Enter the Dragon was for Bruce Lee.
Now, you must remember, the enemy only has images and illusion, behind which he hides. Destroy the image and you break the enemy. (Shaolin teacher to Bruce Lee, Enter the Dragon)
In 2012, FC Porto defeated PSG in a Champions League match at the Estádio Do Dragão. Current Bayern boy James Rodriguez scored the winning goal, and ran over to celebrate with the Porto fans. Photographed among the roaring fans was the shadow of a spectre, attired from the mid-1900s: long coat, a comb-over, pointy collars, and a black tie. Estádio Do Dragão is one of those cauldrons in the world where even the spirits of dead men rise on Champions League nights.
The fifty-thousand-seater stadium is a figurative hall of mirrors to any opponent, disproportionately exaggerating their flaws. The home team plays around them, like a twirly-mustachioed villain with a dagger, intermittently prodding. Or like a Portuguese vampire bat nibbling away on the heel of an unsuspecting chicken. Both appear only on the edge of glances, until the opponent is bled dry. Now, imagine eleven of them cleverly disguised as footballers – that’s the modus operandi of Sérgio Conceição’s FC Porto.