Liverpool’s midfield dynamo Jordan Henderson has said, after last night’s 3-0 demolition, that the Reds are aiming to become a top team like Real Madrid, as reported by the Daily Star.
The Santiago Bernabeu club were under the cosh for the opening 20 minutes of the game against the Anfield side, but after scoring, tore Liverpool open repeatedly and were 3-0 up before the break.
While Liverpool did improve in the second half, they never truly looked like scoring against Carlo Ancelotti’s side, and the gulf in quality between the two sides was obvious.
Despite having lost Gareth Bale to injury, Ancelotti could still call on the likes of Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Isco and James Rodriguez to make up a powerful attacking unit, and the contrast with Liverpool was obvious.
Brendan Rodgers chose to sub Mario Balotelli off at half time after an indifferent first period, and sent on Adam Lallana in his place, with Rickie Lambert the only conventional striker available to him in reserve.
Henderson said: “This Real Madrid team is top class with the best players in the world but that’s who you want to be playing against and testing yourself, always trying to improve ourselves as a team.
“The first 20 minutes I felt as though we had a right good go and got in behind them a couple of times.
“We had a couple of half-chances to get a goal and then you never know but we just need to be a bit more ruthless in the final third.
“When you are on top you need to put your chances away.
“Hopefully we can keep improving and work on the things we didn’t do quite so well.”