Sturridge hoping trophy floodgates will now open for Liverpool

Daniel Sturridge revealed after Liverpool’s Champions League final victory on Saturday that a “long talk” amongst the squad helped spur them on to reach their target of lifting the famous trophy in Madrid.

Sturridge was an unused substitute in what was his last game for the Reds, with the 29-year-old expected to leave the club this summer on a free transfer.

And the striker has revealed how a squad discussion without the presence of any staff members was a key factor in their togetherness during and after the game.

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“We had a long talk as a group of players [on Wednesday] and I think that’s important too: to speak as a group of lads, without any staff involved, just the players hashing it out,” said Sturridge, as quoted by the Independent.

“We were all in there and if anyone wants to say anything, anyone can say what they want to say. It was just like: ‘Look, it’s our time, we’ve prepared ourselves as best we can.’

“It was just about if we go behind how do we deal with it, if we go ahead how do you deal with it? And we haven’t had those conversations before.

“And I feel like maybe before the Europa League final we didn’t prepare as well. Last season, we said: ‘We didn’t prepare well the season before and we have learnt’.

“This year we have had two finals now, so you have learnt so much more. I think that’s what makes teams so successful. They have experienced it.”

He added: “Once you win one, you hope the floodgates open and you continue winning. It’s that culture of getting over the finishing line.

“I’m just thinking the most difficult thing is winning a trophy with a manager that you have not won a trophy with before. It’s difficult, it’s not easy. So to be able to won the first trophy and understand ‘we can do it’. This group of players.

“There have been so many groups of players who have tried so hard to win something at Liverpool since the last time they lifted a big trophy – it’s been over ten years – so to be to do it… Come on man, we have to say that all the preparation we have done behind the scenes has paid off.”

The England striker also spoke about the disappointment of the Europa League final, in which he scored but ultimately went on to lose.

“The difference is that the heartache never goes away,” he said. “You always think about it. People were saying: ‘If we win we won’t think about it’ but you do.

“You always think: ‘What if? What could we have done differently, how can we prepare differently?’. There are so many different questions that you ask yourself.

“All the things when you lost, you take them into a game because you’ve learnt from them: all the pain, all the heartache you had prior to that. And when you come into a game like this, you go: ‘OK, cool’. You come in at half time and you talk different.”

On his expected departure from Anfield, he concluded: “I don’t even want to talk about all that stuff. I feel like it has been an incredible time and I am not going to talk about next season or anything.

“What’s important now is celebrating something so momentous, something we were striving for, working for for a long time. To finally win something is amazing.”

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Source: anfieldhq.com