Jordan Henderson on Liverpool's CL defence, Napoli test and Rhian Brewster
Jordan Henderson is hoping for a much different outcome tomorrow night when Liverpool return to Stadio San Paolo to face Napoli in the Champions League.
The Reds were beaten 1-0 by Carlo Ancelotti's side in the south of Italy last October courtesy of Lorenzo Insigne's late goal.
But Jürgen Klopp's side sufficiently corrected themselves to win the competition outright and now begin the defence of their title.
Henderson joined his manager at a press conference in Naples on Monday evening to preview the Group E opener. Read on for a full transcript of the captain's pre-match comments...
On whether Liverpool are favourites for the Champions League this season...
I think it’s too early to be saying stuff like that. For us, we've started the season really well and we just want to continue that on. We still feel we can improve and still get better, so that's what we try to do tomorrow night, try to give everything and start the campaign off really well.
On how much the Reds have progressed since last season's trip to Napoli...
Well, when we came here last year we didn’t perform very well at all, I'm sure the manager will tell you that. I can remember the analysis after that game and I think we improved a lot since that game and we used that game to improve a lot. Hopefully tomorrow night will be a different story, the performance level is much better. If that's the case then we have a better chance and a better opportunity to win of course. But it will still be a tough challenge because Napoli are a really good side.
On Rhian Brewster...
Rhian has been really good. Pre-season he was really strong, in training he's been really good. It gives us another option of course, we’ve got a lot of strength in this squad. He's been doing really well and he just needs to continue in that way.
On building on winning the competition last season...
It is important. I don't see that being a problem for this team, to be honest. We're always hungry for more, we always want to improve and we always feel we can do better of course. Last season is last season. Of course we can take experience from the campaign and the year before as well. We can take that into this campaign but ultimately we feel as though we're still improving. We can still do a lot of things better. Let's go for everything. Everything is possible again, so we want to challenge in every game we play.
On being the team to beat in Europe this season...
Maybe, but I feel as though being at Liverpool, everybody wants to beat you anyway. It's the same for us – we want to beat everybody we play, they want to beat us. For us, it's the same as it always has been – to give everything in every single game we play. We know that it'll be a tough game tomorrow, they’re a great side but we’ve got to concentrate on what we can do. If we can perform to the level I know we can then we have a good opportunity to win the game.