Milner on double talk, Liverpool's belief and Henderson form

After returning to the top of the league with a 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday, the Reds’ attention now turns towards European matters.

Jürgen Klopp’s side will play the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie with FC Porto on Wednesday night at the Estadio do Dragao, holding a 2-0 advantage from last week’s meeting on Merseyside.

Milner previewed the game on Tuesday evening at a press conference, where he discussed Liverpool’s belief, ever-growing maturity and the form of Jordan Henderson.

Read on for a transcript of the vice-captain's media briefing...

On the chances of Liverpool doing the double...

For us we just want to concentrate on our side. I think that’s all we can do, that's all we can control. There has obviously been a lot of talk outside the dressing room for a long time - from the Liverpool side as well - about the first title in years and things like that. But I think, as a group, we’re focused on our targets and concentrating on what's going on within the dressing room - that's the most important thing. The only thing we can control are our games that we’re playing in between now and the end of the season.

On how this Liverpool team compares to his previous sides...

I think getting to three finals since I’ve been at the club has helped, in terms of experience and going through that together and gaining a lot of European experience in knockout games. Getting to the Europa League final and getting to the Champions League final but not getting over the line is disappointing. But that's something we have the opportunity to change. I think that first one is always the hardest. But for the experience we’ve gained; last year pushing for a Champions League and also battling to get into the Champions League through the league position - that was a high-pressure situation and we managed to do it as well. All that experience we've gained as a group has made us a better side and I think you can see that [in] how we've played this year. At times we maybe haven’t played so well, but we’ve still managed to get the results.

On whether belief is growing within the squad...

I think it is positive. There isn’t too much talk about what’s going on, what might happen at this stage of the season. It's been how we've been all season. We're training the same way, the mentality going into the game is the same. That’s what we can concentrate on - one game at a time and keep pushing. But I'd say that's a massive positive within the dressing room and with the team that every game is just like the next game. Obviously there is plenty of talk outside the dressing room, in the media and, in this day and age, social media, it's hard to get away from it. But the lads are just focussing on our side and what we can control.

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On whether there is a feeling that Liverpool 'are unstoppable' at the moment...

I think there's a confidence within the squad and not an over-confidence, which is important. But you’re never going to play a full season playing your best football, and I think that's the most important thing to remember. There are going to be times in a season when you're not playing well, you can't always play your best. I think that’s impressed me more than when we're playing well because we all know how well we can play - we proved it last year, we blew teams away in certain periods of games. This year, it's when we haven't played as well as we would have liked and we've had to grind it out and we've had to keep going until the 90th minute to get a winner. That’s what has impressed me more, to be honest, because I know how good we are as a team and how good we can be at our best. But in long seasons when you're pushing for trophies, league titles and Champions Leagues, it's the tricky 15, 20 minutes, the 45 minutes where you're not on your game - can you keep a clean sheet, can you regroup and can you push forward and get a result? We've managed to do that at tough times and hopefully that continues.  

On Henderson's recent performances in an advanced midfield role...

Fantastic. We know how good he is. He’s been asked to do a job for the team and we know he'll do anything he's asked - whether he's asked to play in goal, he'll do that. That's obviously the sign of a great leader. He’s been playing fantastic in the last few years at No.6, [but] maybe you don't get as many goals and assists there because you're performing for the team, breaking down attacks and starting the play off. So maybe you don’t get as many headlines there. People are seeing how well he is playing there, but he's been playing equally as good as a No.6 as well. It's great to see him maybe getting a bit more recognition now. He's fantastic for us, he's a great leader and some of the performances he’s put in recently at such a big stage of the season shows what a good player he is and what a big influence he is on the team.