Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge says the players held crunch talks ahead of winning the Champions League final.

The meeting was called by skipper Jordan Henderson last Wednesday, without any of the coaching staff being involved, and each player was offered the chance to talk through their fears and hopes…and discuss where it had gone wrong in three previous final defeats.

Sturridge revealed: “We had a long talk as a group of players [on Wednesday] and I think that's important too: to speak as a group of lads, without any staff involved, just the players thrashing it out.

“We were all in there and if anyone wants to say anything, anyone can say what they want to say. It was just like: 'look, it's our time, we've prepared ourselves as best we can.'

“It was just about 'if we go behind how do we deal with it, if we go ahead how do you deal with it?' And we haven't had those conversations before. And I feel like maybe before the Europa league final we didn't prepare as well.

“Last season, we said 'we didn't prepare well the season before and we have learnt'. This year we have had two finals now, so you have learnt so much more. I think that's what makes teams so successful. They have experienced it."