Liverpool have put one foot into the final of the Champions League.
Tonight, Jurgen Klopp’s side beat Villarreal 2-0 in the first leg of their semi final at Anfield.
An own goal and another from Sadio Mane has given Liverpool a massive advantage ahead of next week’s second leg in Spain.
The first came about when Jordan Henderson’s cross looped over Geronimo Rulli, prompting eruptions from the home support following a frustrating first half which yielded zero goals.
Here’s what Karen Carney said on BBC Radio 5 Live during the game about Henderson, a £20 million signing in 2011.
She said: “Jordan Henderson has been brilliant – he is so dynamic in everything he does and so selfless. He’s always in the right wing and the cross comes and he gets a bit of luck but only because of how hard you’re working and how good your movement is.”
Well, he certainly won’t get credited with the goal.
But Henderson’s influence on the opener was massive nonetheless and Liverpool supporters won’t forget.
For years now, the former Sunderland midfielder – even lauded by Paul Scholes this past weekend – has been a colossus under the German manager and he’s potentially only 180 minutes away from captaining the club to a second Champions League title.
Liverpool also won the tournament in 2019, having reached the final of the competition a year earlier, too.
Aurelien Tchouameni might be Liverpool’s long-term successor for Henderson, with Foot Mercato reporting that this week.
Based on tonight, however, there’s a lot of life in the North-East maestro yet and any talk of replacing him is probably a little premature, to be fair.
He continues to be a monster for Liverpool and so long as that’s the case, spending millions on an inferior player seems needless.
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