Luis helped me become a Kop idol
HENDERSON PRAISE FOR PAL
JORDAN HENDERSON once wanted to “kill” Luis Suarez – but now they are good friends who keep in touch.
And the Liverpool skipper credits the former Red for helping turn him into a winner at Anfield.
Henderson will face his pal tonight when the Merseysiders host Atletico Madrid in their Champions League Group B clash.
But it was a moment on the training pitch during Henderson’s early days at the club that brought him out of his shell.
Suarez, who spent three years at Anfield, was growing angry at Henderson for misplacing passes and the midfielder snapped at him, saying: “I exploded and I was ready to kill him.”
It was a ballsy move considering Suarez was the club’s best player at the time and Henderson had yet to find his feet, but it was one of the reasons he went on to make it at the club.
Now he has lifted the Premier League, Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup as Liverpool captain.
Ahead of Suarez’s return to Anfield, Henderson said: “He poses a lot of challenges. We all know he’s been a top player for a long time, who produced so many good moments at Liverpool. I learnt a lot from him while he was here, I’m quite close to him.
Now and again I speak to him to see how he is doing, how his family is doing and things like that.
“He helped us a lot when he was at Liverpool with the mentality side of it, how he was in training. He helped me massively and made me grow in confidence as a player.”
Suarez has been back before with Barcelona for that famous night when Liverpool came from 3-0 down after the first leg to dump the Spanish giants out in the semi-finals on their way to winning the Champions League in 2019.
Now he is looking to keep Atletico within touching distance of the Reds in the chase for the knockout stages. “He’s a world-class player who causes a lot of problems,” said Henderson.
“He’s always in and around the goal and if he gets a chance I’m sure he will take it, so we have to be on our guard with him. Not only him, they have world-class players all over, but certainly Luis is a top striker who can cause any team problems.”