Thursday, November 06, 2008

We Must Handle Pressure – Pepe Reina

Pepe Reina accepts Liverpool must learn to handle the pressure of increased expectations following their controversial Champions League escape.

Only a contentious injury-time penalty from Steven Gerrard prevented Rafael Benitez’s side from falling to a damaging loss at home to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

It meant the Anfield outfit avoided a second defeat in five days after their unbeaten start to the campaign was halted in agonising fashion at Tottenham Hotspur.

Another defeat would have cast inevitable doubts over Liverpool’s ability to bounce back from setbacks, a failing that has undermined their efforts in recent times.

But while admitting Gerrard’s equaliser may not have silenced the critics, Reina is confident Benitez’s side now possess a greater mental strength to cope with the heightened scrutiny of their performances.

“We didn’t feel any extra pressure because of what happened at Spurs,” said the goalkeeper. “You’re always going to lose some games.

“We don’t think we deserved to lose at Spurs, we played a lot better and had plenty of chances. Sometimes that happens, sometimes you get luck and sometimes you don’t.

“But if Stevie hadn’t have scored at the end against Atletico, then we know people would have been talking.

“You have to handle that kind of pressure here at Liverpool. People expect you to win every game. When you don’t win, it’s normal that people will talk about it.”

Gerrard’s penalty was the eighth goal Liverpool have netted in the final 10 minutes of a game this season, all of which have proven pivotal.

And Reina added: “I don’t know if scoring all these late goals gives us a psychological advantage against opponents, who might think we’re never beaten. But I do know we are quite strong mentally, and we keep fighting and never give up on the result until the very last second.

“We’ve scored a lot of late goals this season, but we suffered one at Tottenham. That’s football.

“But it’s unbelievable that Stevie can handle the pressure of putting that penalty away in the 90th minute. It’s amazing. If he took five penalties against me in training, I’m sure he’d score all five!”

Wednesday’s draw has moved Atletico back above Liverpool at the top of Group D, although Benitez’s men only need one victory in their last two games at home to Marseille and away to PSV Eindhoven to progress.

“It was really important to get that goal at the end because we’re still depending on ourselves to get through now,” said Reina. “If we win against Marseille, then we know we will progress. Atletico defended really well. They were strong in midfield and put the extra man in there, which made it difficult for us to penetrate them.

But we knew it was going to be difficult.

“It’s always good to remain unbeaten in any competition, so to keep that record going in the Champions League can give us the confidence to win that game we need to go through.”

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