Henderson: I’ll never forget pain of Kiev defeat but I’ll use it as fuel

JORDAN HENDERSON is ready to rumble again after the pain of losing the Champions League final.

The Liverpool midfielder captained England on Thursday against Costa Rica (below) and was outstanding in the 2-0 win. He now wants to take the belief that saw the Reds make the Champions League final against the odds into the World Cup.

Reflecting on last month’s heartbreaking defeat to Real Madrid in Kiev, he said: “I don’t think I shall ever forget that really. It will always be there because it hurts so much.

“I think you can learn from that experience. It can help you as a player to get better, to want to get there again. To keep striving and keep wanting more, to keep improving.

“So, I think it can help. It is obviously difficult to think like that straight after it, but it was good that I got some time with my family just to switch off and refocus on the World Cup.

“You can see that a lot of the lads are confident. You have got to take that into the World Cup – be brave and be confident in the World Cup. Take each game as it comes and you never know what will happen.” Henderson, 27, has also praised the decision to take the national team around the country once again. A flagwaving, 36,000 crowd at Elland Road backed the players in their final warm-up game before they depart for Russia. Henderson added: “It’s the right thing to do, to travel around the country. The atmosphere is generally good. But I do think it is a good idea to travel, so different fans can go and watch the games – it’s easier for them further up north, obviously.

“It worked well and the atmosphere was really good. Hopefully, we can do that more in the future.”