Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has claimed that he did not hesitate in agreeing to give a reading on the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster at Anfield.

The Northern Irishman will read Psalm 23, The Lord Is My Shepherd, this afternoon to honour the memory of the 96 Liverpool supporters who lost their lives back in 1989.

"I feel very privileged," Sky Sports News quotes Rodgers as saying. "I came into the city in 2012 and knew obviously a bit of the background about what was going on, but over the time I have been here it becomes your life.

"So, to be asked to represent the families and victims of Hillsborough and to give a reading, I am very honoured and proud to do that. When I was asked I had no hesitation."

Everton manager Roberto Martinez will also deliver a reading at the service, while a minute's silence will be observed around the city at 3.06pm, which is the time when the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough ground was abandoned.