Japanese star Wataru delighted after captaining Liverpool to victory on home soil

Wataru Endo starred for Liverpool

By Emmanuel Akyereko

(Managing Editor)

Japanese international Wataru Endo has stated that he will never forget the moment he captained Liverpool on his home soil.

The 32-year-old was given a rousing reception by his compatriots when he was introduced in the second half of the Reds’ 3-1 win over Yokohama F. Marinos on Wednesday.

Endo began his professional career with Shonan Bellmare in 2010 before moving to join Urawa Red Diamonds in 2016 where he played for two seasons before heading to Europe.

He has already spent two seasons at Anfield and on Wednesday returned to Japan to feature in an international friendly taking the captain’s armband from Virgil van Dijk.

After the historic moment, Endo told the official Liverpool website: “All my family came to watch the game today, so I think they were very excited to watch this game today. I’m happy that I could show this game to my family. They are happy.”

The Premier League title-holders fell behind to the J1 League side in the 55th minute after Asahi Uenaka opened the scoring.

New signing Florian Wirtz, however, soon equalised to set the stage for teenagers Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha to turn the Reds’ final game of their Asia pre-season tour around.