Gini Wijnaldum: I'll be thinking of the fans when lifting the trophy
Liverpool’s supporters will be on Georginio Wijnaldum’s mind when he lifts the Premier League trophy.
The champions will receive their latest piece of silverware in a special ceremony on the Kop following tonight’s match against Chelsea.
The game at Anfield will, of course, be played behind closed doors - but Wijnaldum will be thinking of the fans celebrating at home when he gets his hands on the title.
“I think that you’re going to think, ‘Finally!’” the midfielder told Liverpoolfc.com.
“What makes it more beautiful is that I do it with a club like Liverpool, that waits for 30 years. That’s too long for a club like Liverpool and that you can give that to the fans… as a player you know how desperate the fans were for the Premier League and that makes it even more beautiful.
“I’m really happy, first of all because now we can put our hands on the trophy and we get our medals so that’s a good feeling. Also because I thought that after the game when we are champions we would get it immediately, but they told us that we have to wait! So we waited a lot of games but finally we can enjoy the moment.”
We caught up with Wijnaldum ahead of the meeting with Frank Lampard’s side. Read on for more from the No.5…
Gini, what was the moment when you thought this was going to be another incredible season?
It already started in the beginning of the season. In pre-season we didn’t win a lot of games but the feeling was quite good because we finished the season before quite good with winning the Champions League and in the last couple of games we were quite strong. We didn’t play always good but we showed that we learned a lot from the years and months before, from the games, so we brought the games to a good end. From that moment we all had a really good feeling and we were like, ‘If this team stays together, then we will be able to win the Premier League next time’.
So, it already started last season, basically from the moment we were winning games, difficult games, that we weren’t winning before. I already had a good feeling but you always have to look in the summer at who is going to stay, who is going to come. We didn’t have a lot of signings - Taki [Minamino] came halfway through the season, Sepp van den Berg came at the beginning of the season - so I can imagine that people on the outside thought we needed signings to improve, but like I just explained then with the games we already played and with the season we had last season and this season helped us a lot to improve and helped us win the Premier League.
Are you already talking among the team about next season and wanting to retain the title?
Of course you want to do that and you have to keep that in mind. At a club like Liverpool, such a big club, you always have to play for titles so I don’t think you have to talk about it, it’s something that has to be in your head because Liverpool is a big team and should always play for winning things. That’s what we have to keep in mind. The thing that we have to do is deal with situations during the season because anything can happen; players can get injured, players will not be in form maybe and maybe as a team you are not as good. You just have to deal with the situation and make sure you win games and perform on the pitch. I’m more thinking about those things than winning something because I know we have a lot of quality and I know we can show a lot and win a lot. But it’s always [about] how you are going to deal with the situations you are going to get in a season. This season we did it quite well and let’s hope next season we are going to do the same because when the situations are there you always have to deal with them. Saying it is easy but doing it is something else.
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How important is it to win the game versus Chelsea before getting the trophy?
It’s important to try to win every game, you know. It is difficult because we were already champions seven games before the end of the season, so a lot of times [there are] things in your head like, ‘When can we get the trophy?’ and everything, but basically this is a small pre-season for next season. So what we are trying to do is stay focused and even though we are already champions, we are just trying to play the best football we can do and perform week in and week out. I have to say it went quite well with performances but the results were not always on our side.
