London Racing Club

🚨 Jurgen Klopp on Liverpool supporters booing Jordan Henderson during Chelsea’s penalty: “I saw the moment Jordan picked up the ball and the Liverpool supporters started booing him. I also saw him smiling. I know that smile. Sometimes Jordan smiles when he’s uncomfortable because he doesn’t want you to see that something has affected him. And I thought, well, this is a strange thing to watch. I spent years with this man. I know what he gave to Liverpool, and I know what it cost him sometimes. There was a period when people questioned whether Jordan was good enough to captain Liverpool. He heard all of it. He wasn’t Steven Gerrard, he wasn’t the most technically gifted midfielder in England, and everybody seemed very interested in reminding him. But I remember one conversation after a difficult game. He was upset because he thought he hadn’t done enough. I told him, ‘Jordan, you cannot solve every problem on the pitch yourself.’ He said, ‘But somebody has to take responsibility.’ I said, ‘Yes, and sometimes that somebody can be another player.’ He looked at me like I had suggested something completely ridiculous. That was Jordan. You could be winning comfortably and he would still be shouting at somebody for not tracking a runner. You could be losing and he would be the first person asking for the ball. Sometimes I had to tell him to calm down. Imagine that. Me, telling somebody else to calm down. And now I see him in a Chelsea shirt, picking up the ball before a penalty, taking the attention away from the player who is actually going to shoot. People are asking, ‘Why is he behaving like the captain?’ Because that’s what he’s always done. He doesn’t know how to stand there and watch everybody else deal with the pressure. I remember telling him once, ‘One day you will stop playing football, Jordan, and you will have to learn how to sit quietly.’ He said, ‘I don’t think that’s going to happen.’ I believed him. Listen, Liverpool supporters have every right to want their team to win. If Jordan is playing against Liverpool, of course they want him to lose. He understands football better than most people. But I hope they remember something. Jordan Henderson spent 12 years at Liverpool. He was there when things were difficult, when people laughed at us, when we lost finals, and when we finally started winning them. He didn’t become a different person when we lifted the Champions League. He was the same man who had been shouting at everybody when we were struggling. And he didn’t become a different person when he left Liverpool either. Chelsea have not signed a man who is going to spend 90 minutes remembering how much he loves Liverpool. They have signed a footballer who will give them everything because that is the only way he knows how to play. I would be disappointed in him if he did anything less. Maybe the supporters were simply trying to put him off. Maybe they thought he was taking the penalty. That’s football. But when I saw him smiling, I wondered whether he was remembering all those years when the same people were shouting his name. Because I remember them. I remember Jordan lifting trophies for Liverpool. I remember him comforting younger players after defeats. I remember the times he played when he was exhausted and still wanted to know what more he could do. You don’t have to cheer for him in a Chelsea shirt. But you can remember what he was in a Liverpool shirt. And if you ask me whether Jordan Henderson should stop behaving like a captain because he no longer plays for Liverpool, my answer is no. Liverpool didn’t make him care that much about football. That was the reason we wanted him to lead us in the first place.”