Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: We were professional in Porto win
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain felt Liverpool’s professionalism was in evidence as they defeated FC Porto 2-0 in the Champions League.
The Reds had already secured top spot in Group B prior to Wednesday night’s game at Anfield but took their points tally to 15 from five matches courtesy of second-half goals by Thiago Alcantara and Mohamed Salah.
Post-match, Oxlade-Chamberlain was interviewed by BT Sport. Read on for a transcript…
The result didn’t matter in terms of the group tonight but you grew into that nicely…
Yeah, that was one of the main things that the manager said and as a group, we wanted to come out here tonight, approach it properly, professionally, and we want to keep standards up. Especially off the back of the weekend with a good performance we wanted to put another one in today. We made changes and it was important that everyone came in and did a good job and carried on the winning ways. So yeah, I think it was professional and in the end, three points is what we wanted and that’s what we got.
How important is it for you to get games in succession?
You want to play as much as you can and games in succession is where the rhythm comes from, the fitness comes from, and you grow into things. For me personally it’s great, T [Thiago] coming back from injury – I’m sure he’d say the same thing. It’s good having him back. I think tonight it was important with having young Tyler [Morton] - having Thiago and myself, with a bit of experience, helping him along and I thought he did really well.
Matchday six involves a trip to San Siro and with AC Milan winning tonight, they still have plenty to play for…
Yeah, it’s another game for us. It would be good to go through with all wins, that would be really impressive and good to take on into the competition. And it’s a great place to go and play football – every single one of us dreams of playing in the San Siro on Champions League nights away at Milan. That’s what we’re here to do. Despite the position in the table, I feel like we’re going to approach the game in the right way and if we make changes it’s a good opportunity for boys to get minutes in the legs and put on a good show.