Reina in race to be fit for Reading clash, reveals Liverpool boss Rodgers

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is sweating over the fitness of Pepe Reina after the goalkeeper picked up a hamstring injury while on international duty with Spain.

Reina revealed on Wednesday that he would undergo tests at Anfield after picking up the knock during the half-time warm-up.

The shot-stopper is thusly a doubt ahead of Liverpool’s match against Reading on Saturday, but Reds boss Rodgers is hopeful the injury won’t prove too serious.

“We’ll wait another 24 hours to see how he is,” the 39-year-old told reporters. “It’s nothing overly serious – he felt just a slight twinge in his hamstring at half-time in the game.

“I met him here [on Wednesday at] about 7.15pm. All of our players coming back from international duty come here [Melwood] to be assessed and reported before they go back home.

“We had the checks on him and he had a scan this morning. It’s not overly serious, but we just need to weigh up the risk in the next 24 to 48 hours.

“I think Spain picked up a few injuries. By all accounts the pitch wasn’t the best and a number of them picked up muscle injuries.

“Speaking to Pepe last night, he very rarely has any muscle injuries, but hopefully it will prove not to be serious.”

“He’s been wonderful since I came in here. He’s a good guy and one of the top goalkeepers in this league.”

Should the Spain international’s injury force him out of Saturday’s clash, Rodgers confirmed Brad Jones will take his place, and is confident the reserve goalkeeper will rise to the occasion should the need arise.

“It’s good for us that if he can’t play, we’ve got Brad Jones, who has made fantastic improvement since the beginning of the season and shows up every day of his life very well here,” Rodgers added.

“So if Pepe can’t play, we’ve got an able understudy who can come in and do very well, I’m sure.”

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