Rafael Benitez has praised Jose Reina after the Liverpool goalkeeper raced to 50 clean sheets in record time. Reina kept his 50th clean sheet in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Sunderland at Anfield in only his 92nd game, in a new club record. beating that achieved Ray Clemence, who managed it in 95 matches.
Clemence, who earned 61 England caps, kept 335 clean sheets in 665 appearances for Liverpool between 1969 and 1981.
Benitez said: “I have been talking about how good ’Pepe’ is for a very long time. For him to keep 50 clean sheets since he joined the club is a terrific performance.
“And it is a goalkeeper of Ray Clemence’s quality that he has beaten. Not just any goalkeeper but one of the club’s greats in Clemence. That shows how good Reina has had to be.
“But it also underlines the standard of defending. A keeper cannot have 50 clean sheets if the players in front of him are not doing their job.
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“Now this is something we must repeat, another 50 cleans sheets from Pepe in the same way would be ideal for us. It is much easier for our strikers to score goals if they know we do not have any problems in defence.”