Jordan Henderson has refuted the idea that winning a major trophy with England would mean more to him than his Champions League success with Liverpool.
To understand just how special the events of Madrid were for the Liverpool skipper, look no further than the glorious emotional release of the trophy lift or his post-match embrace with his father.
Liverpool’s broad sense of detachment from the nation as a whole means supporters tend to care relatively little about the fortunes of the England team.
And so they will be pleased that Henderson wouldn’t rank winning the World Cup or the European Championships above his first taste of silverware at Anfield.
“It would mean a lot (to win a trophy with England), I wouldn’t say it would mean more (than with Liverpool), but that goes for any trophy,” the skipper said, as shown in this video on the GiveMeSport website.
“Any trophy that I win I’ll be over the moon, and that’s all I want, to win, whether that’s at Liverpool or England.
“To win a trophy in the summer was massive and huge for my team.
“For England as well we want to go forward, that’s what we want to achieve and we want to win trophies.
“We want to be as successful as we can be and that would mean everything to me and, I’m sure, the lads as well.”
The skipper was speaking at an England press conference, so couldn’t realistically suggest he would favour club success, but you’d suspect that’s his preference.
One of the most common debates in the football Twittersphere is whether fans would prefer their club to win the domestic league or their nation to land the World Cup.
A lot of Liverpool fans would rather we won a throw-in.