Liverpool have contacted Uefa and Porto to raise concerns over plans to charge away supporters three times as much as home fans at next month’s Champions League game in Portugal.
The Portuguese club have announced a price structure in keeping with the group stage of the competition which will see 3,200 Liverpool supporters paying €75 (about £66) for the round-of-16 first-leg tie at the Estadio do Dragao on February 14.
Porto will charge their members and season ticket-holders €25 and then any tickets released for general admission for home fans will cost €75.
Liverpool have told Uefa and Porto that they believe that none of those tickets will go on general admission because of the importance and prestige of the game. That would then breach Uefa rules stating that the same price level must be in place for home and away fans.
Discussions between the Anfield club and European football’s governing body have been taking place for a number of weeks in an attempt to resolve the issue. Liverpool will continue to maintain contact and will lodge a formal complaint after the game if no general admission tickets are sold to home supporters.
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“It is not apparent that there will be any home general admission tickets sold at €75 due to the anticipated demand by FC Porto members,” a statement on Liverpool’s website read.
“Liverpool FC has therefore raised this significant discrepancy at the highest level with Uefa and FC Porto, who have confirmed that this pricing structure and policy is in line with previous rounds in the competition.
“We will continue our dialogue with Uefa regarding the €50 discrepancy between the home and away ticket prices. We will update supporters when those discussions have concluded.”
The case differs to that involving Manchester United and Seville with the Spanish club asking £35 more than they took from Liverpool fans in the group stage in November.
United have responded by saying that they will charge Seville supporters £89 to attend the return leg at Old Trafford and will use the proceeds to subsidise fans attending the first leg.
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Meanwhile, the brinksmanship over Daniel Sturridge’s future continues with the striker favouring a loan move to Seville even though Inter Milan are the only club to come up with a proposal which satisfies Liverpool’s demands for a loan fee and the player’s wages to be met for the remainder of the season.
Sturridge was not involved in Jürgen Klopp’s squad for Monday’s defeat by Swansea City despite being fit. Seville have tried and failed in the past to try and land players from Liverpool on the cheap, Mamadou Sakho and Luis Alberto being two examples.
Lokomotiv Moscow have approached Liverpool over Lazar Markovic, the Serbian winger who has yet to make an appearance for the club this season. The Russian side have registered an interest in signing Markovic on loan in the second half of the season, giving the 23-year-old a platform to relaunch his career.
Celta Vigo, Espanyol and Anderlecht have also checked on Markovic, who was an unused substitute in Liverpool’s Carabao Cup defeat by Leicester City in September. West Bromwich Albion have been linked with him.
Markovic spent the second half of last season on loan at Hull City having returned from an unsuccessful stint at Sporting Lisbon. He spent the 2015-16 season at Fenerbahce. He was a £20 million signing from Benfica in July 2014 and still has 18 months remaining on his contract.
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Meanwhile, Liverpool do not have an interest in Charlton Athletic youngster Ezri Konsa.