England goalkeeper coach and former Liverpool star Ray Clemence has hailed Reds No1 Pepe Reina.

Reina became the quickest in the club's history to record 50 clean sheets and Clemence told liverpoolfc.tv: "I think Pepe is an excellent goalkeeper and his record speaks for itself.

"He is in his third season at Anfield now and he has got better every year he has been there. Apart from a short spell at the start of last season when he lost a bit of form and confidence and made a couple of mistakes his performance levels have been remarkably consistent.

"He has done really well for the team and gives the players in front of him great confidence. I'm sure Pepe would be the first to acknowledge that he has benefited from having the likes of Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger, Sami Hyypia, Steve Finnan and John Arne Riise in front of him. But as an individual he has many good qualities which deserve highlighting.

"He is extremely quick, has great reflexes, is very brave and is a good kicker of the ball. If you put all those qualities together then you have a very good goalkeeper."

He added: "I think Reina and Cech are two of the best around, there is no question about that.

"Cech is one of the main reasons why Chelsea have been as successful as they have in recent years and Reina's contribution to Liverpool has been on a similar scale. If you think back to last season's Champions League semi-final Reina was the hero when he did particularly well in the penalty shoot-out.

"But there have been plenty of times when Cech has been Chelsea's hero and it will be good to see the two of them in action again on Sunday."