Henderson: Champions League qualification still in Liverpool´s hands

Jordan Henderson was remaining positive following Liverpool’s defeat at Paris Saint-Germain, pointing out the Reds still have qualification from Champions League Group C in their own hands.

Juan Bernat and Neymar scored in a 2-1 win for the Ligue 1 champions at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, leaving last season’s beaten finalists on the brink of an early exit.

Liverpool have to beat Napoli at home on matchday six – either 1-0 or by two clear goals – to qualify instead of Carlo Ancelotti’s side and captain Henderson feels his team-mates can deliver in the December 11 clash.

“Obviously we are disappointed, we feel we’re good enough to come here and win, but it wasn’t our night,” Henderson said to BT Sport.

“We kept going until the end, pushing for the equaliser. We got one back and kept going, we kept fighting but now we’ve got to keep it in our own hands by winning at Anfield.

“We didn’t start particularly well and they started quickly, which we knew they would do, so it was disappointing from our point of view.

“You get punished in the Champions League so we are massively disappointed but the reaction was good and we kept fighting. It wasn’t to be, so now we need to finish it off at Anfield to get through to the next round.

“Another big game at Anfield for us, we’ve got to focus on that and do what we can to get through to the next round of the Champions League. It’s in our hands.”

Defeat on MD5. It now comes down to our final #UCL group game at Anfield. #PSGLFC https://t.co/RajZN9fOra

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 28, 2018

Liverpool were angered in the first half when Marco Verratti was only booked for a late challenge on defender Joe Gomez.

But Henderson would not blame referee Szymon Marciniak, who also appeared to change his mind about a penalty decision that then saw James Milner score from the spot, for his side’s loss.

“It looked quite high but I’m not really sure. In the moment it’s difficult, it’s fast, that’s football,” Henderson added of Verratti’s tackle. 

“There were some good tackles in there and we made a few too. We kept fighting and unfortunately we couldn’t find an equaliser.”