Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has insisted that team “will be ready for whoever” after advancing through to the last eight of the Champions League.
Liverpool are into the second knockout-round phase for the first time since 2009 thanks to a 5-0 aggregate win over Porto, netting all five of their goals in last month’s first leg.
Henderson admits that failing to build on that tally at Anfield on Tuesday night was a minor disappointment, but is already looking forward to the challenges ahead, beginning with a trip to Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
“We are through to the next round which is the most important thing – obviously we wanted to win – but we have to give credit to Porto because they played well,” he told BT Sport. This is the business end of the season.
“The next few months are very important for the team. We need to put performances in like we have been and the results will follow. We couldn’t manage to break them down tonight but there’s a big game this weekend which we need to be ready for.
Asked about the prospect of facing a domestic rival in the quarter-finals, Henderson added: “It doesn’t matter. They are all good teams at this stage. We will be ready for whoever.
“We want to work hard and achieve big things. The attitude was brilliant tonight. Unfortunately we couldn’t break them [Porto] down but I can’t fault the lads – the attitude was brilliant.”