Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has revealed that watching Liverpool's Champions League success last season inspired him to get back to his best and play in the competition once more.
The midfielder returned to European action for the first time in 18 months in Wednesday night's 4-1 win over Genk in Belgium, and the Englishman was the star man as he scored the opening two goals of the game.
However, it hasn't been plain sailing for the Ox, after he was sidelined with a shocking knee injury for almost all of the last campaign. He did manage to make the bench for the Champions League final against Tottenham though, but he could only watch on as the Reds came out 2-0 victors.
Oxlade-Chamberlain spoke to BT Sport after the Genk game about his road to recovery, and as quoted by the Independent, he said:
"It was nice to be back out there (after) seeing the boys do so well in it last year.
"It's inspirational, it's something I've wanted to get back to do. It's just nice to be back in the starting line-up and try to put in a performance to help the team. To get a few goals was a bonus."
However, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was cautious in his praise for the player, claiming he had more to offer to the team and could have been even better.
"It was absolutely a great moment for him, but I would say with Ox his performance was exactly the same as the performance of the team - the goals were great but all the rest could have been better.
"On Sunday, Adam (Lallana) scored the goal, and now Ox has scored two goals. It's really nice. Absolutely great, a great story."
Klopp's men return to Premier League action this weekend with a huge home game against Spurs, knowing that they need three points to maintain their healthy advantage at the top of the league.
Source : 90min