‘I do not see why I should be given more praise than anyone else here’
Jordan Henderson lifted the trophy but European glory was a joint effort, he tells Chris Bascombe
Shortly before Jordan Henderson stepped onto the podium for the defining moment of his career, he was involved in a minor altercation with James Milner.
The formal handing over of the Champions League trophy was seconds away and Henderson, the Liverpool captain, did not want to accept it alone. He approached Milner and manager Jurgen Klopp, urging them to share the honour. “If anyone other than you lifts that trophy, they are getting wrestled to the ground,” Milner replied.
Fifty-two days on from Madrid, Henderson sits in Boston’s Four Seasons Hotel eager to set the course towards the next podium, but wherever the next steps lead, he will always be dragged back to that night; a triumph of collective leadership.
“I felt myself, Millie and the gaffer should have lifted it together,” Henderson says. “I wear the armband when I play but Millie wore it when I haven’t been playing. Without him it would have been different – and the manager. What we did that night wouldn’t have been possible without the manager, but he said no. For me, the photo would have meant the
same if the manager was lifting the trophy and I was behind him.”
Since replacing Steven Gerrard as captain in 2015, Henderson has sought his own identity as leader. His willingness to sacrifice the trophy lift will surely epitomise his career wearing the armband – the ultimate validation of his leadership style.
“Everyone looks at the captain to lift the trophy and everyone speaks highly of the captain when you win a competition, but if you rewind to a year or two ago, people would have been criticising the way I am and asking if I should be captain,” Henderson says.
“That is not for me to get involved with because they do not really know. You can’t judge a captain on performance. A lot goes into it behind the scenes, not just me. There are a lot of leaders in this group and the manager. I don’t see why I should be given more praise. People outside may have doubted [me] but I have never felt it was that way inside. The players and manager have always been 100 per cent behind me and I have always felt their confidence.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m so proud to captain this club and I don’t take that lightly. Just playing for this club is unbelievable, and to lift the Champions League trophy was unbelievable. But just winning the European Cup was enough for me, with this team, this manager.”
There was another symbolic moment in the post-final party when Henderson, who did not have a drink as he absorbed his achievement, hunted down his predecessor for a photograph with the cup. Gerrard refused. “This is your night – enjoy it,’” he told Henderson. A post-career snap alongside the three living European Cup-winning captains – Phil Thompson, Graeme Souness and Gerrard – was not ruled out.
Henderson has other images to cherish, the outpouring of emotion most visceral when hugging his father, Brian, by the touchline. “I don’t know how he got down by the side of the pitch,” Henderson says. “I know how much it meant to him and what he’d been through the last few years, so to see him so quickly after we had won… you’re so elated by the whole moment.”
Nearly 30 minutes into an interview about the future and we have done it again – spoken at length about the recent past. But do not underestimate the determination of Klopp and his players to bring that particular party to its inevitable conclusion.
“We have been talking for the last few seasons about being so close to winning a trophy. We kept going, fighting, and now we have got that major trophy and we want to win more,” Henderson says.
“We want to use this to propel us. We don’t want to win one trophy and that’s it. We have come a long way in the past few years and we just want to continue on that journey, that curve riding up. Everybody will want to beat us. I felt that was the case last season anyway and has been for a long time. We have to deal with that, like we have done.”
There may be more trophy lifts soon, with the Community Shield and Super Cup final within a matter of weeks. The request to Milner seems open.
“Football moves so quickly that you want to focus on the future and not get caught up in the past. It’s about wanting more,” Henderson says. Do not rule out more heated discussion between the captain and vice-captain at Wembley and Istanbul.