Liverpool defender Joe Gomez admits an injury plagued season has been frustrating.

After an extremely encouraging start was halted in December by a lower leg fracture.

But the defender returned to first-team duties in April - even starting at Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final - and considers his time on the sidelines to all be part of his ongoing development.

"It's probably underestimated a bit how much it can affect us as footballers," the 21-year-old said.

"Like it might just seem that you're injured and now you just watch the boys, but it hurts - especially [in] a year like this that was pretty historic.

"To watch a large majority of those games, having had a taste of it at the beginning, was difficult to take. Obviously it was nice to overcome it and get a bit of involvement at the end.

"We've just got to move on now and we've got a big game. There's a lot of ups and downs, but it's all a learning curve."