Lucas Leiva was delighted to lead Liverpool to last night's victory over Europa League opponents Rabotnicki.
Lucas was one of just a handful of senior players to feature and, in the absence of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, wore the captain's armband.
And, after a comfortable 2-0 victory, the Brazilian wants to keep it for the second leg of the third round qualifier next week.
Lucas said: "It is a really good achievement for me. I am really proud, really happy, but the most important thing was the win. I know there are a lot of senior players in front of me but I hope I did a really good job and hopefully I will keep it.
"We are really pleased. It is our first win of the season and it was an important game. We got two away goals against a difficult team, so we have started the right way.
"Hopefully we will keep the same for the next match."
David Ngog scored both goals as Liverpool eased to victory with few alarms.
Lucas played alongside homegrown youngster Jay Spearing with Alberto Aquilani playing in a more advanced role behind lone striker Ngog.
With the likes of Gerrard, Joe Cole and Javier Mascherano - although the latter has expressed a desire to leave - training back on Merseyside, Lucas feels competition for midfield places is strong.
"Jay was fantastic and Alberto is getting the fitness back," Lucas said.
"This is good for the team, this is good for the season. When you have good competition with good players it will always be good for the team. The first two friendlies were to get our fitness back. Now for the official game we were 100% and we were ready.
"It was really important we won away with two goals and we didn't concede. The shape of the team was really good and hopefully we will keep doing the same, but we still have to play the second leg.
"We have to make sure we beat them again."
