Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says he used the words of Hillsborough campaigner Margaret Aspinall to motivate his team to a 3-2 victory at Norwich.
“She talked about stress – it can prove difficult but can also offer you great determination to fight,” said the Liverpool FC boss.
“Those were words we gave the players before the game. We stuck them on the wall.”
“It is a club that is as one at the moment – and we are all fighting to achieve the ultimate goal.”
Aspinall’s son James died in the Hillsborough disaster, the worst sports related tragedy in England sporting history. The tragic day at Sheffield Wednesday Stadium took the lives of 96 Liverpool fans in 1989. Aspinall spoke during a memorial service at Anfield on Tuesday which marked the 25th anniversary of the disaster. Since ’89, Liverpool have made sure not to schedule any matches on April 15th.
The Reds are now in first place in the Premier League by five points over Chelsea and nine over Manchester City, with three matches to play.
Brendan Rodgers added: “You have seen all the characteristics of our team – wonderful invention, creativity, arrogance on the ball, goalscoring as well as young and senior players playing in a structure that allows them to express themselves.
“In addition, we have had to show the courage to dig in and fight away from home against a team that is fighting for its life to stay in the division.”
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