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When referee Cuneyt Cakir blew the final whistle on a remarkable evening at Anfield on Tuesday, the varying reactions from Liverpool's ecstatic players encapsulated the moment.

An overcome James Milner booted the matchball into the crowd. Two-goal Gini Wijnaldum dropped to his knees and held his head in his hands in disbelief.

Virgil van Dijk slumped to the turf and was surrounded by a jubilant Alisson Becker, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez.

And Jordan Henderson sprinted towards the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand with arms outstretched and slid towards the touchline before falling flat on his back, completely spent, then rolling over on to his front and being helped to his feet by team-mates.

The Liverpool skipper had led by example – as he has done during the closing, defining weeks of this season – ignoring a first-half knee injury that required painkilling injections at half-time having already sparked the comeback against Barcelona with a forceful run that allowed Divock Origi to tap in the first of four Reds goals on an amazing night.

Henderson, with one goal and five assists in his last nine games, has demonstrated an oft-overlooked creative side to his game having been switched to a more advanced role after two-and-a-half years primarily as a holding midfielder under Jurgen Klopp.

And with his skipper attracting praise for recent efforts, the Reds boss believes the time has come for the England international to be given the credit he deserves.

“If that doesn't happen after this season, then I lose a little bit of respect for people, to be honest,” says Klopp.

“It wasn't only after we brought him into another position, because he had brilliant games in other positions, no doubt that, in the number six for example.

“What can I say? The energy level Hendo and Millie had on Tuesday – and Fabinho, no doubt about that, but he had a completely different job to do – the chasing mood, I thought they were like wolves who nobody had fed for eight weeks. They were unbelievable.

“They were pretty much unplayable. That inspired everyone. Shaq and Divock didn't do it 500 times, that's the truth, and Sadio decided he can do it from time to time. He did it for Bobby and Mo (in previous games).

“That's how we created the direction of the game, that's the truth.

“First, Barcelona kicked off, played it back, and then the whole north of England jumped on them! That was really brilliant.

“That's the start of game you wish for, and that only comes from the right characters – and obviously we have them.”

Henderson is now set to follow Emlyn Hughes and Steven Gerrard in skippering Liverpool in two European Cup finals.

Before then, though, he could become the first Reds captain to lift the Premier League trophy with Klopp's side hoping for another miracle on Sunday.

Victory for Liverpool at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers would see them end the campaign on 97 points, although it will also require a failure from Manchester City to win at Brighton and Hove Albion for the title to return to Anfield for the first time in 29 years.

A clean sheet for Liverpool would secure at the very least a share of one award, with both Alisson Becker and City's Ederson locked on 20 clean sheets each in the race for the Premier League Golden Gloves gong.

(Image: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)

Alisson underlined his importance again on Tuesday with a string of saves to prevent Barcelona snaffling an away goal.

And Klopp recalls the long-term effect of the goalkeeper on Liverpool securing a Champions League final berth against Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid on June 1.

“Come on, it is easy to realise that Alisson Becker is a wonderful goalkeeper,” he says.

“Okay we had to pay a lot of money for a goalkeeper (world record at the time) but then Chelsea had to pay a lot of money for a goalkeeper, too. The prices keep going up.

“Alisson is a wonderful goalkeeper - the only thing is that he makes spectacular things look really easy.

“He deserves all the plaudits because sometimes I don't understand how he is able to get a part of his body behind the ball.

“Yes, he saved our lives then (against Barca) but also the last save of the match against Napoli.

“We couldn't have played that game against Barcelona with that save so he's had a hand or finger in the success of this team and that is brilliant.”