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Jordan Henderson confident he will lift trophy as Liverpool captain despite Champions League defeat

Mark Critchley

Jordan Henderson remains confident that he will lift a trophy as Liverpool captain, despite the fresh disappointment of losing Saturday's Champions League final to Real Madrid in Kiev.

Since being appointed as skipper in 2014, Henderson has led Liverpool to a total of three finals only to suffer defeat each time.

The 27-year-old played and lost the 2016 League Cup final to Manchester City, then watched on injured from the substitutes' bench as Jurgen Klopp's side were beaten to Europa League glory by Sevilla the same year.

This latest defeat to Madrid means Klopp remains without a trophy at Anfield, despite the significant improvement seen during his two-and-a-half year tenure.

Liverpool, meanwhile, have one piece of silverware to show for their efforts over the last 12 years – the 2012 League Cup.

When asked whether he still held out hope of ending the club's long wait for a trophy, Henderson said: “Definitely, yes. I believe in this team. I believe in this manager. I believe we are going in the right direction.

“It is so difficult to stand here now and say that but that is the truth. It is how I feel. We have to make it happen.

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“We are moving in the right direction. You see that from 2016. Only good teams get to the Champions League final so we have to make sure this is not the last final we are in, that we are in more finals and win trophies.

“We have good players here and we will strengthen. There are more coming in. It is hard to be positive but come pre-season we will be ready to fight again.”

Liverpool's chances of victory against Madrid were severely damaged by the loss of top scorer Mohamed Salah to a shoulder injury after less than half an hour in Kiev.

Their luck only worsened from there, with goalkeeper Loris Karius gifting Madrid two goals with freak errors during the second half.

Asked whether he felt Liverpool were somewhat 'cursed' to come so close and yet miss out, Henderson said: “It’s a fine line isn’t it? It is hard for me talking now, saying we must learn from the experience. But that is what we have to do over the next days and weeks.

“We have a young group, a fantastic group of players, who deserve more. We did fantastically well to get here and now we need to keep growing as a team to be successful in future.

“That is what we have to do. Get over that final line which is most important.”