Reina issues rallying call

Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina has called on his team-mates to show "heart, passion and belief" following their draw in Lyon.

The 1-1 scoreline leaves the Reds Champions League hopes hanging by a thread.

Liverpool led through Ryan Babel's thunderbolt only for Lisandro Lopez to pop up with a last-gasp equaliser, meaning Rafael Benitez's side must now win their two remaining games in Group E and hope already-qualified Lyon can do them a favour against Fiorentina if they are to reach the last 16.

It is an unlikely scenario but Spanish goalkeeper Reina is refusing to give up hope.

"We must continue to show heart, passion and belief," he said.

"If anyone can do this, Liverpool can. But now it (qualification) is not in our own hands, it does not only depend on what we do.

"We were unlucky, but we must keep fighting until we have more options with players getting fit again.

"I felt we had done enough to have won, and deserved it too. Maybe not beforehand in the previous matches when we did not play well.

"But this was different, this was a much better performance. When we play like we did in Lyon, we know we are good enough.

"Now it is very, very difficult for us. But we must show strong character and fight right to the end. We know we have enough good players to sort this out.

"The players will take heart from this, at least we know we are getting back to the form we know we should be producing every week."

Failure to qualify for the knockout stages would have financial implications for the Merseysiders but Reina denies it would be a disaster, adding: "I do not accept that not going through will be a disaster for the club.

"We have been in the Champions League now for several years, one failure is not a disaster.

"Not many teams have reached the semi-final twice and two finals - including a title victory - in the last few seasons. It can happen again, we get closer to our real form with every game.

"Any team would miss the quality of the players who are injured at the moment, but we have others who can play and who can produce the right performances to get us out of this mess."

Stand-in skipper Jamie Carragher is another yet to give up hope.

He said: "We still believe we will get through. We know it is going to be difficult but we are not out of it yet. All we can do is win our next two games and see what happens.

"We have been in difficult positions before and come through like in 2005 when we had to win in Marseille to qualify. A draw in Lyon does not mean we're totally out of it."

Carragher was also quick to defend the under-fire Benitez, adding: "If you look at the manager's record in Europe; we've won it and been to the final, semi-final and quarter-finals. So our Champions League record under the manager has been superb."

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