Óliver Torres: Porto put on a show

A comprehensive dismantling of Leicester City helped Porto send out a strong signal to the rest of the teams in the UEFA Champions League round of 16, with midfielder Óliver Torres saying his side's new-found confidence make them an opponent to fear in Monday's draw.

• Porto 5-0 Leicester: as it happened
• Report and analysis

Nuno Espírito Santo's men prevailed against the English champions – who had already qualified as Group G winners – with a slick performance that brought five unanswered goals. André Silva struck an early first before Jesús Corona volleyed a fine second.

Yacine Brahimi made it 3-0 to the hosts who went further ahead after the restart when André Silva added his second from the penalty spot. Diogo Jota scored Porto's fifth before the end.  

"We wanted to be among the best 16 teams in Europe so we knew the importance of this game," Torres explained. "We put on a great exhibition. The fans were phenomenal and all together we achieved our objective."

With team morale low and goals previously hard to come by, Porto's progress to the knockout phase at times seemed uncertain in recent weeks. A dramatic 1-0 win at home to Braga in the Portuguese Liga last Saturday, however, helped to raise spirits ahead of the Dragões' European challenge against Leicester.

"We played with a lot of confidence tonight and that could have come about because of the way in which we beat Braga," Torres said.

 "The manner of Saturday's win [arriving thanks to a 95th-minute goal] and seeing how the fans celebrated definitely gave us strength for this game and in terms of going forward," the Spanish Under-21 international added. "Wins always bring happiness; happiness breeds confidence and confidence brings a good style play."

• Monday's draw: full guide

Asked what particular strengths Porto would take into the round of 16, the Atlético Madrid loanee said, "We are a team that will always be difficult to beat. We haven't conceded a goal in our last six games.

"No matter who we'll get, we're going to give everything we have and I wouldn't put limits on how far this team can go." And if Porto should draw Atlético? "It's a possibility, and it would be beautiful," Torres concluded.

Full-back Maxi Pereira, meanwhile, insisted the fact that Leicester had left many of their big-name players at home for Wednesday's Group G game shouldn't take away from his team's biggest UEFA Champions League triumph for over two years.

 "There are times when games of this nature are among the hardest," the Uruguayan said. "We played a great match and achieved our objective in what was a very difficult group," he added.