Steve Nicol questions whether Jordan Henderson is ready to captain Liverpool

Former Liverpool defender Steve Nicol believes that Jordan Henderson's conduct in last night's penalty controversy could hamper his chances of replacing Steven Gerrard as captain.

The stand-in skipper was the designated penalty taker for Thursday evening's 1-0 win over Besiktas in the last 32 of the Europa League, but Mario Balotelli stepped up instead.

Nicol believes that Henderson's failure to make a "big decision" questions the midfielder's credentials as captain.

"I think we learnt more about whether Jordan Henderson is ready to captain this team," Nicol told talkSPORT. "You can't blame Mario for wanting to step up and take it. It is the captain's call and quite clearly Henderson wasn't sure what to do and really kind of caved in to Mario.

"There is a certain standard that a captain has to carry out. He has to be respected by his whole team and to get that respect you have to make good decisions and big decisions and you have to get them right.

"Jordan Henderson has got this one totally wrong and for me it opens up the question of what will happen when Steven Gerrard leaves."

Gerrard will free up the captain's armband when he joins MLS side Los Angeles Galaxy in the summer.