The unseen moment in Kiev that convinced Jordan Henderson to let the Liverpool captain win the Champions League

This is one of the most iconic images in Liverpool's history: captain Jordan Henderson raises the club's sixth European Cup in the Madrid skyline under fireworks.

But one of the major influences of Henderson's career was a more painful picture, twelve months earlier, which reinforced his belief that the 29-year-old would lead the Reds to the glory of the Champions League. .

Kevin Ball took the midfielder under his wing when he was a teenager and he was crossing the club ranks from his hometown, Sunderland.

At the time, the legend of the Black Cats was working as a coach at the club's academy and he knew very early that Henderson had both the ability and the character to play at the highest level.

It also explained why Ball was undoubtedly what we thought of the English international at the end of the 2017-18 Champions League final.

As Real Madrid celebrated their 3-1 victory over Liverpool in Kiev, the television cameras were turning towards Henderson, who was on the sidelines of the Coupe de France without even glancing at it.

And that's when Ball, who stays close to the Reds' skipper, accurately predicted what would follow a year later.

"I watched it in the bar when I was on vacation, and because of my relationships with Jordan and with our club (Sunderland), I am very close to him and I followed his reactions, individual and vis-à-vis his team. My teammates, and the only thing that always keeps me in mind – and the most interesting thing is that everything has been proven – has pbaded the Champions League trophy, "said Ball, speaking in a special Blood Red podcast.

"Now, most players would be inclined to watch him and would be disappointed to think that it was not theirs." I watched him as he pbaded by, because the camera had him turned his back, and he totally and totally ignored the cup, it was as if it did not exist, and I liked it because it was like "good, it's not the I'm not going to look at it. "But I actually told the people I was with at the time," He'll get it back someday. "

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"Now, he and Liverpool had done brilliantly last season (up to the finals), but the point was, do people really remember the runner up? And I told him about my luck in the 1992 FA Cup final against Liverpool and they beat us 2-0. But nobody remembers that I had a medal for the FA Cup finalist. So I jokingly said, "No one remembers the second prize," but I also said, "You have the chance to put this now in another Champions League final."

"So for me personally, seeing him lift the trophy was fantastic. There were fireworks behind him when he lifted it, but if you look at Jordan, it's like he had also exploded, with a lot of joy. I would not say relief because he has so much confidence in his abilities, but it was like the end of a trip, or part of the trip, if you understood what I mean, and he just broke out .

It was later revealed that Henderson wanted Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp and his midfielder James Milner to raise the Champions League trophy with him.

But Klopp and Milner had none and so Henderson became the fifth captain of the club – after his predecessor Steven Gerrard, Graeme Souness, Phil Thompson and Emlyn Hughes – to grab the European Cup .

"You talk about humility among the great leaders – and Jordan is becoming one of those people," said Ball, who on the podcast also talks about emotional scenes between Henderson and his father Brian at the end of the Madrid final.

"He has all the traits of a leader in abundance – and humility is one of them. The fact that he is happy to share with others what really constituted a great trip for him, proves it once again.

"In raising this trophy, it was like a firework waiting to go, and I could understand that because he was thinking," I did it, bang, "and it was nice to see. But the fact that he looks at others saying, "Come with me," and they say to themselves, "No, no," is a sign of mbadive respect on the part of Jordan for them, but also on the part from them to Jordan.

"They said," It's your time, you're our captain, you deserved it, "and I think these three people (Henderson, Milner, Klopp) should get a huge pat on the back."

Liverpool will be hunting seven trophies this season, starting with the Community Shield on Aug. 4 against a Manchester City team that propelled Klopp's men into the Premier League.

And Ball, who is now ambbadador to Sunderland, said, "If anything is presented to Jordan, he'll find a way to overcome it, get around it, cross it, or do something about it. He will not rest on his laurels.

"Now, the most important thing is that, after realizing what he has achieved this year, he will always have his eyes set on the Premier League title, which will be Liverpool's challenge this year and come back to a other final of the Champions League.

"What they have accomplished is beautiful, but to be a real, a great one, one must keep trying to achieve, achieve and achieve."