(^60) DAILY MIRROR WEDNESDAY 24.07.2019
DM1ST
LIVERPOOL ON TOUR
Klopp and Milner told Henderson
‘No’ after Reds captain offered to
lift the trophy with the pair of them
OWN GOAL Mansour sold
13% stake to Chinese group
I can’t understand what
people are saying – maybe
one journalist is a bit upset.
“I don’t know why, but it’s
far away from the reality.”
City arrived in Shanghai
almost 48 hours behind
schedule after an
administrative error.
That gave them less than
a day to prepare for their
opening game win against
West Ham in Nanjing. They
were beaten by Wolves in
the final on penalties.
But it was the club’s
apparent failure to embrace
the experience that
provoked the media arm of
the Chinese government
into a stinging rebuke.
City chief executive
Ferran Soriano used the
trip to give a presentation
on how his club are trying
to tap into Chinese
markets.
That prompted Xinhua to
claim that his mission was
“focused on how the club
could best commercially
expand into China and look
to relieve Chinese football
fans of their money”.
The editorial attack will
come as a huge
embarrassment to City’s
Abu Dhabi owners.
Sheikh Mansour sold a 13
per cent stake in the club to
Chinese Media Capital for
£265million in December
2015.
Chinese president Xi
Jinping helped seal the
deal when he visited the
Etihad two months earlier
on a state visit to Britain.
And five months ago, the
Blues purchased Sichuan
Jiuniu FC to be included in
their City Football Group.
But Guardiola added: “So
we came here 23 hours
later, we travel two hours
by train to play in Nanjing
then back to Shanghai.
“Now here (in Hong
Kong) and to Tokyo, always
with the biggest smile.
“I’m so proud of what
we’ve done. All the
marketing departments, all
the people who’ve
organised this tour.
“And maybe next year, or
in two years, we are going
to come back to China
when the club decides we
should come.”
Guardiola
blast over
Chinese
City jibes
FROM BACK PAGE
memorable images
of that night, includ-
ing Henderson and
Klopp embracing on the
verge of tears and the Liv-
erpool captain hugging his
dad Brian (left), who had re-
cently recovered from cancer.
But there is one snap
Henderson did not get that
night which he wanted and
that was with Gerrard, the last
man to lift the trophy for
Liverpool before Madrid.
“I saw Stevie after the final,”
said Henderson. “I asked him
for a picture with me and the
trophy and he said ‘No, this is
your night tonight – enjoy it.’
“I felt that was a nice touch,
even though I genuinely did
want a picture!”
Liverpool will finish off their
tour of America in New York in
the early hours of tomorrow
when they face Sporting
Lisbon at Yankee Stadium.
Henderson, looking ahead
to the new season that starts
a fortnight on Friday, added:
“We have a lot of big games
coming up straight away, so we
need to be ready.
“The next few weeks are
really important to give us the
base going into the season.
The games come thick and
fast right from the start.
“We want the Champions
League win to give us
confidence, to propel us to
win even more trophies.”
competition but if you rewind
to a year or two ago, people
would have been asking if I
should be captain.
“That is not for me to get
involved with because they do
not really know what goes on.
“There is a lot more to being
captain than the way you play
at the weekend. A lot goes into
it behind the scenes and it is
not just me doing that.
“The photo would have
meant the same if the man-
ager was lifting the trophy and
I was stood behind him.
“I get just as much
from that.”
Both Klopp and
Milner dismissed
Henderson’s
suggestion straight
away. “I asked Millie
and the gaffer
because I felt as though
Millie is a big part of the
squad,” said the Reds captain.
“I know I wear the armband
when I play but he wore it a lot
when I wasn’t playing. He is a
big part of the dressing room.
I feel as though without him it
would have been different.
“I felt as though he deserved
to, along with other people,
but also the manager.
“What we did that night
wouldn’t have been possible
without the manager, and I felt
as though he deserved to do
that. But he said no.”
There are plenty of
From CHRIS McKENNA in Boston
IT is an iconic image in
Liverpool’s illustrious
history...Jordan Henderson
holding aloft the Champions
League trophy.
But if the Kop captain had
got his way then it is a
snapshot that would never
have been taken.
Henderson collected
Liverpool’s sixth European
Cup when they beat
Tottenham 2-0 in Madrid last
month. It was the moment
that silenced his doubters
as he joined Emlyn
Hughes, Phil
Thompson,
Graeme Souness
and Steven Gerrard
as Kop skippers to
lift the trophy.
But Henderson
wanted two colleagues
with him at the end of the
Champions League final:
manager Jurgen Klopp and
vice-captain James Milner.
“I felt me, Millie and the
gaffer should have lifted it
together,” said Henderson.
“It was not about me
standing at the front lifting the
trophy, it was more about the
team. When I look back and
see the faces of the lads, that’s
what means the most to me.
“Everyone looks at the
captain to lift the trophy and
everyone speaks highly of the
captain when you win a
for
nal,”
him
the
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SKIPPER!
Henderson lifts the
trophy but he said
Milner and Klopp
should have been
with him
THE JORD
ALMIGHTY
frankie
(Frankie)
#1