'For us as a team we just want to focus on the future... we will never forget Madrid': Jordan Henderson insists Liverpool will strive to improve despite being European champions

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Jordan Henderson insists Liverpool have it all to prove again as he stressed the club's new status as European Champions will not mask the need to find improvement.

Liverpool's captain will get his first minutes of pre-season in Saturday's friendly against Borussia Dortmund and he is fully recharged after a summer break that was made all the sweeter by the events of June 1 when Henderson lifted the Champions League trophy in Madrid.

It was by far the greatest moment of his career and it represented the scaling of a personal summit; he has faced many challenges since he arrived from Sunderland in June 2011 but his position in the club's history is now secure following the 2-0 win over Tottenham.

Jordan Henderson says Liverpool must not become complacent after their success in Europe 

Henderson, however, is not a player who has ever stood back and admired his achievements and his appetite to lift more trophies in the coming years is huge. 

He does not believe complacency will be a factor for Jurgen Klopp's squad and feels the desire to collect more silverware is huge.

'Football changes quickly all the time,' said Henderson. 'You only focus on what is in front of you, you can't change anything that has happened in the past good or bad. For us as a team we just want to focus on the future, we will never forget what happened in Madrid.

'But we can use that in the right way to stay hungry, to stay focused on what we want to achieve. We want to be as successful as we can be. 

Henderson and his team-mates have been ramping up their pre-season preparations in USA

'You got to keep that work ethic that we have showed over the past few seasons, keep learning from the manager and keep doing what we have been doing.

'The Champions League win gave us great confidence and we have to keep going. We had a while over the summer to look back and reflect on all the videos, some amazing stuff, the parade and all that but now it is about the future. I just want to focus on what is in front of us.'

This is not going to be a summer in which Liverpool spend big and many will wonder where they can find the improvement to catch Manchester City but Jurgen Klopp is adamant he has the solutions within.

One of those will be Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain; it is a year to the day since Liverpool announced that he would miss the entire 2018-19 campaign because of a horrific knee injury, so to see him up and running again has given Henderson a huge thrill.

Henderson described Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as a 'new signing' following return from injury

'I'm very close with him,' said Henderson. 'I've played with him for a number of years, through the 21s, now at Liverpool and England, he's a fantastic person off the field. Last season he was a massive part behind the scenes even though he had a bad injury and I'm sure he was going through some painful times.

'But he was always positive, always happy around the team and always there to support us when we needed him. 

'He was a massive part off the field for us last season and this season hopefully he will be a massive part on the field as well and show everyone what he is capable of like he did before he got injured.

'He has looked so strong, so good in training. This pre-season is important for him and I'm sure he will be flying again. 

'He is like a new signing for us. He is such a fantastic player for us, so powerful and he gives us something different. He is a massive player to have back.'