My body feels great – Sturridge confident in fitness after win over Man Utd

Liverpool forward Daniel Sturridge insisted his body feels great after his penalty helped Jurgen Klopp’s men into a 2-0 lead against rivals Manchester United in their Europa League last-16 tie.

The striker’s first-half spot-kick after Memphis Depay was adjudged to have fouled Nathaniel Clyne put the Reds in front at Anfield before Roberto Firmino capitalised on a mistake from Michael Carrick to score a second with 17 minutes remaining.

Sturridge has been in and out of the team since recovering from a string of injury problems, but he assured Liverpool fans that nothing is wrong after their crucial first-leg triumph.

“That is the manager’s decision to choose which players he wants to play,” he told BT Sport.

“I am fine, I am fit and I am ready to play as many matches the manager is prepared to give me. My body feels great.

“I didn’t see the penalty incident as I wasn’t involved in it, but most importantly the team won the game and that is what matters.”

Asked what it meant to end a four-game losing streak against United, Sturridge added: “The past is the past in terms of recent games against them.

“We go into each game with the same mentality, but of course it was a big game. It was great for us to get the aggregate lead for the next game.”

Captain Jordan Henderson paid tribute to the Liverpool supporters and felt they were a huge part of the team’s success.

“The fans were brilliant,” he said. “When we went out for the warm-up we could tell it was electric and that gave us a great boost.

“David de Gea made some very good saves, he is a very good keeper. We felt we could have been two or three up at half-time with the chances we created. We knew we needed to get another goal and we did that.

“We are obviously confident with a good two-goal advantage, but that can be dangerous at times so we need to make sure we are fully focused on the away leg because it will be tough there. We have to go there as if it is 0-0 and play a different game.”