Henderson on Hoffenheim, Champions League and Firmino
Jordan Henderson discussed the threat Hoffenheim will pose, the prospect of a return to the Champions League group stages and Roberto Firmino's importance to Liverpool at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena on Monday.
Reds captain Henderson addressed the media at Hoffenheim’s home stadium ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League qualifying play-off first leg.
Read on for a transcript of his press conference…
On the opportunity of returning to the Champions League group stages…
It’s a great opportunity for us as a team, one that we want. Last year obviously one of the aims was to qualify for the Champions League and these next two games give us that opportunity. We’re looking forward to it and we’re excited; hopefully we can put on a good performance and get a good result to take back to Anfield.
It’s a big test, but it’s a big opportunity as well and that’s how we’ve got to look at it. Over the two games, if we can win then we’ve qualified for the Champions League and that was the aim last season, so we need to finish it off with these two games. Obviously it’ll be a very tough game because Hoffenheim are a very good side and will make it difficult for us, but I feel that with the quality we’ve got, if we’re performing to the level we know we can, I’m very confident we can get through to the group stage.
On the mood in the Reds’ camp after Saturday’s draw with Watford…
Still very positive. Obviously after the game we were disappointed, when you concede a goal in the last few minutes you’re always disappointed. But in football you’ve got to get over things like that quickly, I think we can still take a lot of positives from the game and we just need to work on a couple of things coming into this game. So yeah, still positive and hopefully we can put on a good performance tomorrow and get a good result to take back to Anfield.
On Firmino, who is set to play against his former club on Tuesday…
He’s a massive player, a massive player for the team and a massive player for what we’re all about. He’s got so much ability but works so hard for the team as well and he’s a massive player for us. Hopefully he can have another good season for us and score a few goals tomorrow.
Watch free: Klopp and Henderson preview Hoffenheim clash
On the motivation provided by the 2016 Europa League final defeat…
That was a tough night for us as a team. Of course, losing in any final, but especially a European final, was difficult, but you’ve got to use that and make sure you don’t have that feeling again. We can certainly use that tomorrow going into the game, using that angriness to have a good European campaign this year. Hopefully it can help us going forward.
On the fact this is a two-legged tie that doesn’t need to be settled on Tuesday…
We’ll be aware of that - it’s two legs and you’ve got to play as it is, really. Obviously, tomorrow is important, but you’ve got to have it in your mind that it is over two legs so we’ll take each game as it comes. Tomorrow’s a big test for us coming here, we need to get a good result to take back to Anfield. We’re looking forward to it, it’s a big game and a big opportunity for us.
On Hoffenheim…
We know a bit. We’ll do video analysis, obviously Roberto knows a lot about them, the gaffer knows a lot about them. A lot of the players will have watched Bundesliga games as well, we know that they’ll be a well-organised, aggressive team. They’re very good at set-pieces, the forward players Kramaric and Wagner scored a lot of goals between them, Serge Gnabry is here on loan. So yeah, we know a bit about them and we know it’ll be a very tough test for us, but if we can produce our quality on the night I think we can get a good result.
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