Liverpool show resilience and sense of purpose while progressing in Porto
Porto were on top early on in the rain before Sadio Mané opened the flood gates sending Liverpool into the Champions League semi-finals
Danny Makkelie stood there in the middle of the storm, rain pouring down around him, and put his finger in his ear. It was not easy hearing the words coming down the wire, and still less the moment they saw him. The game was 28 minutes in, but it already felt like ‘Next Goal Wins’ and while it seemed certain that Porto would score, it was Liverpool who did. Only they did not. Only they did again. Mohamed Salah provided it, Sadio Mané scored, and the linesman took it away again. Then Makkelie gave it back. As soon as the Porto fans filling the Dragon’s den saw him do that gesture, they feared he might.
Porto had wanted to take the free-kick swiftly and get rolling again, not allowing the momentum they had built to slow, but Makkelie stopped them. Mané had appeared offside, clearly so, but upstairs they were having a look. A routine check, repeated at every game and after every goal, something new for football to get used to, justice served at the cost of spontaneity. There are reservations about VAR, and this is one of them: the time taken, the emotion too. Among the Liverpool fans the celebration died quickly, resigned to losing the opening goal.