HENDERSON: WE’LL BE READY FOR ANYONE!
LIVERPOOL CAPTAIN SAYS HUNGER AND DESIRE WILL INSPIRE REDS IN QUARTER-FINALS
Jordan Henderson says Liverpool will relish their Champions League quarterfinal clash, regardless of who they play.
The Reds were held to a largely lifeless 0-0 draw by Porto in last night’s Round of 16 second leg, but eased through 5-0 on aggregate, clinching a first Champions League quarter-final in nine years.
This game was the antithesis of their 5-0 win in the first leg at the Estadio do Dragao, but a professional performance, a fifth clean sheet in eight European matches and no apparent injuries represented mission accomplished.
While supporters may have had a justifiable complaint for being shortchanged by the Champions League’s top scorers, from Jurgen Klopp’s point of view there was no point in taking any risks – especially with Saturday lunchtime’s match at Manchester United looming large.
Former Sunderland star Henderson insists that he has no preference for a lasteight opponent, with Real Madrid the only other team through so far.
Asked about the next round, Wearsider Henderson told BT Sport: “It doesn’t matter.
“They are all big teams and good teams. Whoever you get, you’ve got to be prepared to go and win. So it doesn’t matter. We’ll be ready.
“This is the business end of the season. The next few months are very important for us as a team, we’ve got some big games coming up.
“We’ve got to keep going, keep working hard and put in performances like we have been – then the results will follow.”
Midfielder Henderson was a little disappointed by the goalless draw at Anfield, but the tie had been won last month. “We couldn’t manage to break them down, which was unfortunate,” Henderson added.
“But we’ve got another big game coming up at the weekend (Manchester United) that we need to be ready for. Hopefully we can score a few goals then.
“Over both legs, going through to the next round was the most important thing. We wanted to win, but you’ve got to give credit to Porto, who came and played well.
“Overall, we’ve got to be pleased with how we’ve gone through to the next round.”
Manager Jurgen Klopp, who made five changes including a rest for 32-goal top scorer Mo Salah, admitted: “It was not the most exciting game – we had a few chances but didn’t score.
“I am very sure it’s very rare to have a game like this (when 5-0 ahead). We had to be serious, we were.
“I wanted to win, it’s a knock-out but the boys did really well.”