SAD STORIES HAD A HAPPY HENDING

Liverpool skipper Jordan: Our bitter defeats in three finals has made us more hungry for glory.. every time we faced adversity we have just bounced back

KIEV 2018, Basel 2016 and Wembley 2016.

Jordan Henderson has never forgotten the pain of losing those finals with Liverpool and says Jurgen Klopp’s men have used that hurt to drive them to glory.

Liverpool are poised to wrap up their first title in 30 years when the Premier League resumes on June 17 and Henderson claims the memory of those defeats motivates the players.

Liverpool successfully used their pain as fuel to beat Tottenham in last year’s Champions League final and he says it keeps them hungry.

“That was a big factor,” said Henderson, who is set to become the first Liverpool skipper since Graeme Souness in 1984 to lift the title and the European Cup.

“Not only the 2018 final, but previous finals over the years that we had been involved in – the Europa League final to Sevilla as well, the League Cup final that we lost to Manchester City.

“All of those things you sort of learn from and it gives you even more hunger to put things right and improve.

“Every time we have faced that adversity we have bounced back in a really good way. It was just a case of continuing to do that and we knew the time would come where we’d manage to win something. Thankfully it came last year.”

Every top sportsperson is motivated more by their failures than their successes and Henderson claims Liverpool were fired up for the 2019 Champions League final because they missed out on the title by a point to City a few weeks earlier.

That massive disappointment made Henderson and his teammates even more determined to succeed.

“Obviously the league season was a good season for us,” the England midfielder told liverpoolfc.com. “To get 97 points was fantastic, but unfortunately we couldn’t quite get over the line.

“The feeling after the last game was really tough and it was a hard one to take.

“But I knew it would help in a weird way in terms of going into the game against Spurs in Madrid because we could use that pain to make sure that wasn’t going to happen again. Thankfully that was the case.” Henderson, 29, who clocks up nine years at Anfield tomorrow, is now part of the club’s rich folklore and is humbled there is banner on the Kop of him lifting the Champions League trophy.

The former Sunderland starlet says seeing it every time he walks out at Anfield motivates him to bring more success to the club.

“It is special,” said the Wearsider. “To be part of the club’s history and to see that banner on the Kop, you never get used to it, to be honest.

“I just try to use it as even more motivation to make sure I do everything I can for this football club and this team to be successful, which I’ve always tried to do.

“In terms of stuff like that, you can never thank the fans enough for what they give to us as a club and as a team. That’s what makes this club so special, really.

“It’s just an amazing football club and over the past couple of years we’ve played some pretty good football.

“We went through some pretty tough times, but also some pretty amazing times. I’m just so excited to see what the future holds for this team and this club because I know we’ll continue to give everything and keep improving and keep learning.

“If we do that then there’s no reason why we can’t have more success.”