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PORTO. – Mohamed Salah juggled the ball in the six-yard box, took it around a clueless Jose Sa and became the fastest Liverpool player to 30 goals since George Allan in a 5-0 rout in Porto last night in a Champions League mismatch.

And anyone who knows who Allan is, will appreciate the incredible substance of that record.

Sadio Mane was the hero of the night, his first hat-trick in a Liverpool shirt taking this tie away from Porto and making the return leg a formality. Liverpool lost a three-goal lead against Sevilla, but three is not five, and Porto are not Sevilla.

In Madrid, with a pop-up penalty and a bobbling rebound, Cristiano Ronaldo put Real Madrid in control of their Champions League showdown with Paris Saint Germain as the hosts won 3-1.

When Real Madrid won a first half penalty, Ronaldo put his standing foot down with such force that the ball lifted slightly from the spot as he sent it past Alphonse Areola.

The goal cancelled out Adrien Rabiot’s opener and five minutes from time, he got the last touch as Marco Asensio’s cross bobbled around in the area to make it 101 Champions League goals for Real Madrid.

The Portuguese then scored a second before Marcelo added a third.

In Porto, there was a mismatch, the complete destruction of a team that looks very good against other Portuguese teams in a domestic league, but were utterly outclassed on home soil here. They could not match Liverpool’s speed, wit or finishing.

They had no answer to the front three of Sane, Salah and Roberto Firmino. Their goalkeeper was a little boy lost.

But before we hear about that, a moment for the story of George Allan.

Hear it, and Salah’s achievements this season are placed into perspective.

Put it like this. We’re not talking modern, Premier League era football here. Allan’s is not a career that takes place on Sky, or even in colour. If evidence exists of his talent, it will be in written documents and statistical records, not moving images. Queen Victoria was on the throne when Allan played his first, and sadly his last game for Liverpool.

His record was set in 1896 and his life was over three years later.

Allan died of tuberculosis in 1899 at the age of 24, having already been forced into retirement by the disease.

He scored his first goal against Loughborough Town.

This is the frame of reference we have for Salah’s cavalcade of goals. Another age, another time. No living person will have seen Allan play, making Salah’s record all the more remarkable.

His prolific start has streaked past each one of Liverpool’s greatest strikers, the legends recalled in songs and on banners, on into history. What a player this is.

And what a player his teammate Mane was too yesterday night, ripping Porto apart, sensing the frailty of Sa in goal and exploiting it to the full. His third, Liverpool’s fifth, was a screamer from 25 yards, putting the cherry on a quite brilliant display.

What a team performance, too, Porto put away in 90 minutes, Liverpool rampant, scorers of 12 goals in their last two Champions League outings and 28 in the competition so far, the top scorers.

This was a fearless display, certainly once they knew they had nothing to fear.

Liverpool recognised they had the beating of Porto early, and took full advantage. By the time James Milner’s cross set up Roberto Firmino for the fourth after 70 minutes, the contest was long over. Even so, it was the goal that banished memories of the Sevilla comeback.

No danger of that here. If Liverpool had needed to repeat the seven goal dismantling of Spartak Moscow in their previous European game, they probably could have.

There certainly wasn’t much fire from the hosts at the stadium of the dragon.

Maybe the weather put it out. Incessant rain, in all day and night, it dampened the enthusiasm of the locals long before Liverpool’s two first-half goals poured icy water over their ambitions. – Mailonline.