Jurgen Klopp Talks 'Ambitious' Liverpool, Praises Jordan Henderson Before Porto

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes his team are "ambitious" ahead of their UEFA Champions League clash with Porto and has heaped praise on his captain Jordan Henderson.

The Reds are huge favourites for the two-legged quarter-final showdown with the Portuguese side, with the first leg to be played at Anfield on Tuesday. Liverpool will be hoping to go one better in the competition this year, having been beaten by Real Madrid in the final last term.

After going back to the top of the Premier League on Friday following a dramatic 3-1 win over Southampton, Klopp said spirits are high, per Paul Doyle of the Observer (h/t the Guardian).

"We are very ambitious," he said. "We have to recover, and then we will make the lineup for Porto. We will try everything. It's at Anfield, it's a quarter-final, it's a big one for us."

Liverpool produced a brilliant display to get into the last eight of the Champions League, winning 3-1 away at Bayern Munich in the last 16 (U.S. only):

The team is set for a gripping end to the season, as Liverpool are in a position to challenge for a Premier League and Champions League double.

The fact that they sat top of the table on Friday night is largely down to Henderson, who came off the bench against Southampton to have a huge impact on the game. The skipper released Mohamed Salah to put the Reds 2-1 ahead and then scored the clinching third goal himself.

Klopp clearly rates Henderson highly and spoke of how well he has done to step into the shoes of former captain Steven Gerrard:

"He's our skipper, he's a fantastic character. If I had to write a book about Hendo, it would be 500 pages. So I'm very positive. The most difficult job in the last 500 years of football was to replace Gerrard. 

"In the mind of the people it was like: ‘If it's not Stevie, then it's not good enough.' And [Henderson] has dealt with that outstandingly well. So he can be really proud. Now we have to think of the future and he is a very, very important part of our team. He deserves all the praise but he doesn't get too much."

Football writer Leanne Prescott was full of praise for the Liverpool captain after his performance against Southampton:

Per former goalkeeper David Preece, it was clear to see just how much netting for the Reds meant to Henderson:

Liverpool will be expected to progress into the semi-finals of Europe's elite club competition at a canter, although Klopp will be encouraging his team to keep up momentum as the season reaches its climax.

Earlier on in 2018-19, there was plenty of talk about whether Liverpool should prioritise the Premier League or the Champions League. It's testament to Klopp, Henderson and the rest of the Reds players that we are in April and a strong case can be made that the team will win both major prizes.