RAFA BENITEZ saluted his “world class” goalkeeper Pepe Reina, after the Reds Spanish shotstopper made a memorable and match-winning double save at Goodison Park yesterday.
With Everton pressing fiercely for an equaliser Reina swooped to his left to parry a 70th minute Tim Cahill header, then recovered instantaneously to make a breathtaking follow-up stop from Marouane Fellaini.
It was the game’s pivotal moment and Benitez paid rich tribute to his keeper afterwards.
“For me he is one of the best keepers in the world and today he showed this again,” he declared.
“Pepe made a crucial save and showed he is a top class keeper.
“To defend in the 90 minutes a lot of free-kicks, throw-ins and corners against a team that is good in the air like Everton is not so easy.
“Pepe helped the defenders sometimes, but especially in this situation and he was amazing.
“When we signed him we knew we were signing a good keeper, but he has improved here and has learned here.
“The goalkeeping coach, Xavi Valero, is doing a good job with him and he is improving every day.”
Benitez acknowledged that the Reds’ opening goal – a wicked deflection off Joseph Yobo – was fortunate, but he also believed that the confidence gleaned from the 2-0 victory can act as a springboard now to finally mount a sustained charge up the table.
“It was really important for us,” he added. “We won against Debrecen and we knew that we needed to keep winning.
“This game was very difficult and also very important, so this game could be a plus for the rest of the season.
“We are higher in the table now. Everybody is happy here so we think we can keep winning some games.
“Clearly it was a difficult game. From the beginning they (Everton) were playing direct and also playing a set-pieces game so it was very difficult to control.
“And they are big and good in the air so we showed character.
“We were trying to play counter attack and sometimes we had good possession, other times not so good because they were on top of us. But again I will say we showed good character. We won and we scored two goals and at the end of the game maybe we had better control.”
Reds skipper Steven Gerrard was not the dominant influence he has been in previous derby matches, but boss Benitez claimed that his groin problem was not an issue.
“Steven doesn’t need a break, he needs to play!” said Benitez.
“But he does need some time to rest after games. We played the same team that had played Debrecen and the pitch was very soft.
“Some players did not train in the week and I was thinking of changing them near the end, but they were doing really well.
It’s always important to win, and to win games in a row is the key to stay higher in the table.
But at this moment we have to take one game at a time and we have done our job.“But we have some days now before we play against Blackburn so we can enjoy it and prepare the team for next week.”
Benitez also paid tribute to Jamie Carragher’s leadership qualities after the vice-captain marshalled a solid rearguard action.
“You could say today that Agger and Carra were doing a good job, but also the rest of the team because Mascherano and Lucas were working so hard in the middle helping defend, trying to challenge in the air and doing everything.
“But Carra is the one who can talk and who can organise the team and he showed character again.”
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