England midfielder Jordan Henderson has admitted that he had butterflies in his stomach when watching Thursday night's World Cup opener, and is now desperate to get his own campaign up and running.

Brazil kicked the competition off with a shaky 3-1 victory over Croatia, in a match which saw the hosts fall a goal behind early on.

Speaking ahead of England's Group D match against Italy on Saturday night, Henderson is quoted by The Mirror as saying: "We've seen nothing to be afraid of yet. I thought Brazil found it difficult to break them down.

"You are watching the Brazil game earlier on, getting the butterflies and you just want to get out there and play football.

"I think everybody is confident that going into our game on Saturday if we do what we know we can then we can get a good result."

The Three Lions have been handed a boost ahead of their opening game in Manaus by the news that Danny Welbeck has been passed fit to play.

Written by
Daniel Lewis