Zonal marking not the problem, insists Reina

The Liverpool goalkeeper defends his side's heavily criticised zonal marking system and insisted the Reds can rescue their Champions League dream.

The Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina has defended the side's heavily criticised zonal marking system and insisted the Reds can rescue their Champions League dream. The Merseysiders' 14-month, 32-game unbeaten home record in all competitions was shattered by Chelsea's shock 3-1 quarter-final first leg victory at Anfield. Now Liverpool must produce a recovery of Istanbul proportions on Tuesday in the second leg at Stamford Bridge to stay in the competition. But Reina maintains that zonal marking at set pieces was not the cause of their downfall, despite the two goals conceded to Branislav Ivanovic from corners. He said: "It is always the same when we concede goals from free-kicks ? people start talking about man marking and zonal. "But we have done it for five years and, although I don't have the statistics, I know we are one of the teams that conceded fewest from set pieces over that time." And it is very clear that the manager Rafael Benitez is not about to change a system that has served him well throughout his managerial career. Benitez said: "When you see man marking you see many goals conceded every week. "We have not conceded too many goals this season from set pieces or over the years, the system works and has been very effective for us.

"It is not the system. It is the mistakes that were made by players. If you analyse Chelsea, they have Drogba, Terry, Alex, Ballack, Essien, Ivanovic ? it is very difficult to stop all of them at set pieces. "They are all very tall, and if you make a mistake you are punished. "This system has worked very well ? just look at how many goals we conceded from set plays in my time, it is as good as if not better than most teams. "But what was wrong was that players were not aware of what was going on around them. If you allow a player to run free like that, it is very hard to control all the zones, that was the big mistake." Reina maintains, however, that the position is not irretrievable. He said: "It's going to be much tougher to win the trophy now, we have to go there and win 3-1 or 3-0. But we can go to any stadium and win. "Of course the 4-1 win at Old Trafford gives us hope, it shows us what we can do at any stadium. We won like that at Old Trafford, why not at Stamford Bridge? "It has to be a perfect performance. We have to have a great day and they must have one of their worst." He added: "Maybe it is 85 per cent in Chelsea's favour now, and just 15 per cent to us, we know it will be hard.

"We must give Chelsea credit because they played very well. But we did not play very well, we did not dominate the situation. "We had trouble in defence and they were in better shape. Some days your opponents play better than you, that is what we must address. "Chelsea did not surprise me, they are an excellent team and we let them control the game. "We started well but then did not have any control in the rest of the half." Liverpool suffered their biggest Champions League home defeat and Reina admitted they had been second best after Fernando Torres gifted them the perfect start with early goal. "We just could not control them at all. It is a bad situation now, losing 3-1 at home is always very difficult to recover from, but we know we can do it. "It will not bother Chelsea that they have John Terry suspended for the next game. They have a phenomenal squad and have plenty of players who can step in for him. "We are Liverpool, whoever plays will have to be brilliant for the team. That is why we have such a good squad, we know how to recover and we know what is needed when we step into the side." Benitez still has faith in his team and insists that should they score the first goal at Stamford Bridge next week, memories of the 2005 final ? when they came from 3-0 down at half-time to defeat AC Milan on penalties ? will come flooding back. He said: "We need to score the first goal in London, just like in Istanbul when we concentrated on just getting one goal back and see what happens. "Chelsea had confidence ? clearly for them the Champions League is a massive competition now. "You could see they were really determined, every challenge was very strong and maybe they think it is their year for the Champions League. But we have to believe that anything can happen." *PA Sport