Jordan Henderson says he and his Liverpool teammates “channeled the anger” from their Capital One Cup final defeat to comfortably beat Manchester City at Anfield in Wednesday’s rematch.
Goals from Adam Lallana, James Milner and Roberto Firmino put Manuel Pellegrini’s team to the sword just days after they had emerged victorious from the showpiece meeting at Wembley Stadium.
Henderson, who captained the Reds on both occasions, has revealed that motivation was not an issue for Jurgen Klopp’s squad in the aftermath of its penalty shootout disappointment in the capital.
“We definitely channeled the anger,” Henderson told LiverpoolFC.com after the game. “We felt they took something from us at the weekend that maybe we deserved, but tonight we made sure that we took the three points.
“We knew that we had to bounce back from the weekend in very difficult circumstances with only three days between.
“Our focus was just solely on winning the game, and I thought it was a brilliant performance as well.”
The skipper also highlighted an early tackle from Jon Flanagan on Raheem Sterling as a key moment in the game. He believes that committed contribution from the Scouse fullback, who was one of five who returned to the starting XI, helped stir up the hosts and the crowd behind them.
“I think Flanno definitely set the tempo of the game, the fans lifted that extra little bit, and from that point, the whole team lifted, so that was a big moment in the game,” he added.
“There are a lot of players who came in who didn’t play at the weekend and they’ll have been disappointed that they didn’t play, but they’ve channeled that in the right way.
“They were outstanding.”
Read more from Henderson on LiverpoolFC.com >>
Thumbnail photo via Jon Super/Associated Press
