Jordan Henderson on centre-back role: 'It was different!'
Jordan Henderson revealed that constant dialogue with his teammates helped him navigate his way through a central defensive debut for Liverpool.
The captain partnered Joe Gomez at the heart of the Reds’ back-line in Wednesday’s dramatic FIFA Club World Cup semi-final victory over Monterrey in Doha.
Virgil van Dijk missed the game through illness and, with Dejan Lovren, Joel Matip and Fabinho all sidelined, Jürgen Klopp opted to shift Henderson back into the defence.
“It was a bit different!” the skipper told BBC Sport post-match.
“But I just tried to do my best in that position, I had great people around me – Robbo and Joe were talking to me all the time.
“The most important thing was the win [and] we defended pretty well for the majority of the game. We would have liked to have scored another couple of goals, but overall I think we’ve got to be delighted with the way things went in the end.”
Roberto Firmino’s stoppage-time winner settled a tight contest 2-1 in Liverpool’s favour against their Mexican opponents, after Naby Keita’s early opener had been quickly cancelled out by Rogelio Funes Mori.
The European champions will now meet their South American counterparts Flamengo in Saturday’s final.
Henderson continued: “They made it very difficult for us, so we’re delighted to keep going.
“I felt we did control the game. We didn’t create too much, to be honest, we controlled a lot with the ball. We had a couple of half-decent chances but thankfully we managed to get one right at the end.”