Henderson Wants People to Remember This Liverpool Side in 30 Years

Liverpool have had their share of great nights in Europe, their share of memorable runs in the Champions League. Five times they’ve won it all in Europe’s top cup competition. It’s a noteworthy history. But the current players would rather focus on something else.

“Our focus is to create our own history,” said captain Jordan Henderson when asked about the club’s past European achievements. “We want people to be looking back at this team in 20 or 30 years time and be saying how good we were and how special this year was.

“I feel as though we’re in a great place, but this (season) is the start of something special. This is what you play football for, to play in games like this against top sides. Everything before it, every struggle, every test that you have had will put you in good stead.”

Adding a new chapter to Liverpool’s history in Europe would certainly have people talking about this team in future years the way they talk about those past sides. Even more so if it provided the foundation for even more success in the coming years and seasons.

But, as things stand, there’s still a great deal of work to do. An appearance in the final and maybe even a sixth European cup seems tantalizingly close and yet a bad performance now, a poor result tonight, could quickly undo so much good and so much hard work.

Liverpool are in a great place, and with a world class manager and the squad the strongest it’s been in a decade—and perhaps in much longer, even—there’s every chance this could be the start of something special. But they must do more to turn chance into reality.

“We expect big things from ourselves with the squad we have got and the manager we have got,” Henderson added. “We expect to go out and perform to the levels we have done. We’ll go in with confidence and belief but at the same time give respect to the opposition.

“They knocked Barcelona out so have really laid down a marker for the Champions League. This is a huge test. Roma are a fantastic side and we need the perfect performance if we are going to get the result.”