Daniel Sturridge: That was my biggest goal for Liverpool so far

The England forward grabbed the key second on Thursday night, pouncing on Roberto Firmino’s ball to convert with typical aplomb and put the Reds well on their way to the Europa League final.

It was Sturridge’s fifth goal in his last seven appearances, taking his overall tally to 12 for the season so far, and resulted in an eruption of sheer emotion.

“I think it was because it was such a big game for us,” he explained. “With the first chance I had I was like ‘how did that not go in?’ so I felt as if I had to make up for it and I am grateful to God that I was able to do that.

“It’s the biggest goal I’ve scored for Liverpool, but hopefully there will be a lot more bigger games and a lot more bigger goals to come in the future.

“It was a big night for us and to get a result like that was massive for us, for the fans and for the club.

“There is no doubt this is the fittest I’ve felt. It’s a few months since I have been back and I haven’t even had a day off. When the other boys have had days off, I have been in.

“It has just been extra stuff, whether I have been training or doing recovery work, I have been doing it. I am not trying to create a sob story.

“At the end of the day, we get paid to do this and this is my dream. I can’t complain. I’m just grateful to God for the opportunity to be here.”

Liverpool knew they had to overturn a one-goal deficit from the first leg meeting with Villarreal in Spain if they were to book a ticket to the Basel final on May 18.

Sturridge remained on the substitutes’ bench for that initial clash at El Madrigal, but turned in an outstanding display in the return against the Yellow Submarines on Thursday, capped off by his 63^rd minute goal.

The 26-year-old accepts that given the players at Jürgen Klopp’s disposal, there may be occasions when he is named on the bench, but is confident the Reds could be on the verge of ‘something special’ under the manager.

“We are playing for a big club and pressure comes with that,” said Sturridge. “You deal with it every single day. You know me, I am as confident as you can be in your own ability. I always try and create chances for the team. If I don’t score, I will try and be a threat for the team.

“It is the club’s job to bring in reinforcements, to sign players. But I know what I can do on a football pitch. I have been here more than three years now. I have had the injuries and I have been in and out of the side in recent times but it has never been a case that I am not happy at the club.

“I am grateful to the club for giving me the chance to come here from Chelsea. I am grateful to Brendan [Rodgers] for signing me as well. Now Jürgen has come in and he is giving me minutes on the pitch. Hopefully it is the start of something special.”

He added: “I am happy here. I have never expressed not being happy here. I think it is everyone playing devil’s advocate. They see that I have been left out sometimes and they think ‘maybe that means he is unhappy’ but at the end of the day the manager has got a job to do.

“He has got to pick the team that he feels is best on the day. And I have got a job to do, which is to perform when I am playing.

“There has never been any friction between me and the manager. Never. There is never any on my part and there is never any on the manager’s part, either, I don’t think.

“It is his job to pick the team. This is a team game and if he chooses to pick someone else, I have to take it on the chin.

“I can be upset if I am not playing. But that is natural for any player to be upset. You just have to take it on the chin. And when you do come on, you have to be in the right frame of mind.”

Sevilla now stand between Liverpool and the chance to lift the Europa League trophy at St Jakob-Park later this month.

Despite having experienced the disappointment of narrowly missing out on the league title in 2014, and losing the Capital One Cup final on penalties to Manchester City in February, Sturridge feels those experiences will prove beneficial when the Reds go up against the La Liga side.

He explained: “It took me a while to get over not winning the Premier League here. That is the closest I have been since leaving Chelsea to winning something big.

“The Capital One Cup was so difficult to take. I was in tears after the game, not just because we lost but because it was a moment for us. We wanted to move to the next level in that game but we were unfortunate.

“We have learned from it and we have got another final. Sevilla have won it twice before. It’s not new for them but we have won it before as a club and we want to give the fans something to sing about. It’s another game for us to show on the big stage we can live up to the expectation.”