Klopp: Hendo is our captain and such an important player for us

The captain was an unused substitute during the 7-0 victory over the Russian side on Wednesday as the Reds booked their place in the last 16 of the Champions League in emphatic fashion.

Afterwards, Klopp said Henderson would “play the next game, 100 per cent” when Everton come to Anfield on Sunday.

And when asked about the midfielder during his pre-Merseyside derby press conference, the manager replied: “I’m not sure if it’s [an] English [thing] or old fashioned [thing] or whatever, but even a captain cannot play all the time – that’s how it is. It is like this, you cannot bring him [in] only because of the armband.

“He is in a good moment, in good shape, but for this game I made a decision for that and I thought it makes real sense in these kind of weeks, you need the players on the pitch to know 100 per cent what a derby is about. That makes sense, I would say.

“I made the decision for the last game and I only spoke about it because I knew people would say, ‘oh yes, fantastic game, Jordan didn’t play’ and then make a story out of it.

“He is such an important player for us. I don’t get why I have to say that. I live in this city and I know, I get it a little bit, how people sometimes are talking about [it]. Being skipper of Liverpool is the hardest job in world football because the man who had the armband before him is Steven Gerrard, [but] sorry, he’s finished playing football and we cannot get him back.

“I want that everybody respects that Jordan Henderson is our skipper because he deserved it, because he is the right man for the job and all that stuff.

“But that doesn’t mean he can play all of the games until he is injured. It is actually no story but in England, especially in Liverpool, it is a story.

“I’ve said a little bit about it, story done.”