Dirk Kuyt says he was very proud to lead Liverpool out for their pre-season friendly against FC Lyn in Oslo on Wednesday night after he was named captain by Rafa Benitez.

With Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher starting on the bench, the leadership responsibilities were handed to the Dutch attacker.

He told the club’s official web site after the 2-0 victory, “It means a lot to be captain of Liverpool.

“Obviously I know that Stevie is number one and we have Jamie as well. With so many changes in pre-season everyone needs to play and I’ve had the armband a couple of times – it’s a great honour.”

The Reds ran out 2-0 winners in Norway thanks to goals from Andriy Voronin and David Ngog either side of half-time.

And Kuyt says Liverpool’s indifferent form in pre-season can’t be judged until the new campaign gets underway.

He continued, “We are happy with the result after the defeat against Espanyol. It’s always good to have another game come up quickly and we won 2-0.

“Maybe it could have been a little bit more but at the end of the day it was a clean sheet and a good performance.

“Sometimes you lose to a team like Espanyol and you just have to get over it. There’s still a week and a half to go until we play Spurs and that’s the most important game for us. “