‘Maybe it will stop them smoking’ - Robertson laughs off lighter-throwing

Despite some sloppy second-half play, the Reds were deserved winners in Lisbon's Estadio da Luz and now have one foot in the semi-finals.

However, left-back Robertson could have been injured taking a corner as ugly scenes once again caught the eye at a high-profile football match.

Asked about the incident on BT Sport, Robertson responded: "Weren't best pleased were they [the home fans]?

"Quite a few lighters thrown at me, maybe it'll help them stop smoking, so I'll take the positives.

"Obviously we've seen it a lot, people getting hit. Luckily they were all quite close to me but none of them hit me."

He added: "They're frustrated, I get that, but you should try not to throw stuff onto the pitch because it can hurt people.

"I was just trying to take the corner and get out of there as quickly as possible and luckily it was at the end of the game."

Ibrahima Konate's first goal for Liverpool - a header from a Robertson corner - had given Livertpool and early lead and they went into the break 2-0 up after a trademark Trent Alexander-Arnold pass found Luis Diaz, who duly set up Sadio Mane for the second.

It could have been more at half time but after the interval Liverpool got sloppy and a mistake from Konate helped the hosts reduce the deficit, Darwin Nunez converting.

Other chances for the Portuguese came and went before Liverpool sealed victory - and quite possibly the tie - when Naby Keita threaded a fine pass through for former Porto star Diaz to round the keeper and slot home.

Boss Jurgen Klopp admitted the performance was far from perfect but was happy enough, urging his side to "keep going".

"It was a tough game," he told BT Sport, "what I expected, especially when they scored the crowd was there immediately and you know, 2-0 is nothing, it's nice but not more and they scored the goal.

"It was much more open than we wanted, obviously, but in the end we should have scored in the first half, we could have scored a second, the goalie was the best player, he made a couple of really good saves.

"We won it. Two goals up at half-time, not more, not less, so let's keep going."

Liverpool next head to Manchester City for Sunday's potentially-decisive clash in the Premier League title race before hosting Benfica in the return leg next Wednesday.

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