LIVERPOOL’S preparations for Sunday’s West Ham game were hit when they were forced to spend an extra night in Italy.
The Reds were supposed to fly home after making the Europa League last 32 in Udinese but there was a problem with the plane.
Brendan Rogers’ coaching staff tried their best to keep the post-match routine which included a pool recovery session this morning.
The team will now return this afternoon before travelling to London tomorrow to get ready for the Hammers clash.
Rogers believes his side took a big step forward in topping Group A thanks to Jordan Henderson’s first-half strike against their 10-man opponents.
Antonio di Natale almost scored with the last kick off the game which would have seen Liverpool tumble out of the competition.
But Rodgers is instead looking forward to concentrating on his side’s league form for the next couple of months.
He said: “We won and that is good for our future.
“We had two objectives coming into this stage of the tournament, our 10th game in the competition.
“Firstly, qualification was important and secondly, we wanted to give experience to some of younger players and we have done that.
“This is the challenge we have to make them better players and educate them in the game whilst progressing and thankfully we’ve done that.
“It was always going to be a tight group and you can see how it finished (Liverpool, Anzhi and Young Boys all on 10 points), but I said to the players I always thought we could finish top.”
Rogers believes his side have turned the corner after a rocky patch.
He added: “I am absolutely delighted because they have been superb through the campaign and their league form is improving.
“We could have been more comfortable, we had the opportunity to score goals in good areas and that was mostly down to great goalkeeping. I don’t think the players could have done much more.
“There was no margin for error and I felt we had to win the game because we were in a difficult group against good teams.
“Over the course of all the games, how we have played and progressed through the tournament, I think we are deserved winners of the group.
“We can rest well, focus on the league and look forward to next February.”
The Sun
