'The performance, the atmosphere - brilliant'
Liverpool must do without their captain in next Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg - but Jordan Henderson believes his teammates can finish the job against Manchester City after a 'brilliant' display at Anfield.
An irresistible first-half performance on Wednesday, which saw the Reds score three times inside the opening half an hour, and a resilient second-half stand means Jürgen Klopp’s team will take a commanding lead to Etihad Stadium.
Henderson, though, will not feature in Manchester due to suspension after picking up a booking late on for a challenge on Raheem Sterling.
However, while warning that the tie is only at the halfway stage, the skipper will be watching on with confidence that his teammates can seal Liverpool’s progression to the semi-finals.
“Of course [I’m disappointed to be missing the second leg],” Henderson told BT Sport.
“I felt as though I could win the ball, but Raheem’s obviously - I didn’t think he’d seen me - just got there first and he’s given me a booking.
“I was a bit disappointed because I thought I didn’t make many fouls in the game, but we’ve got a great squad and I’m sure we’ll go there and put in a good performance.”
Mohamed Salah - who had to be replaced due to injury early in the second half - Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane all scored in a relentless 18-minute burst in the first half on Wednesday.
And Henderson explained that Jürgen Klopp’s team were determined to feed off the ear-splitting noise being created by the home supporters right from kick-off.
“I thought it was important [to start quickly],” he said.
“We knew the atmosphere would be brilliant, and it was, so we needed to make the most of that from the start and I felt as though we did that.
“We were on the front foot, high-intensity and it was a good first half from us, we scored some good goals. Second half they obviously came at us a bit more and we obviously dropped a bit deep at times, which we didn’t want to do, but overall I thought we defended brilliantly.”
On the tireless work ethic all of Liverpool’s players displayed to keep their advantage intact and avoid conceding an away goal while under heavy City pressure in the second half, Henderson continued: “That’s what our game’s all about, working together as a team, everybody, the whole XI.
“I think we all did that brilliantly today, everybody chipped in with the hard yards and then we get our just rewards in the end with the goals.
“But it’s only the first leg, so we need to make sure we do it again away.”