LIVERPOOL GOALKEEPER JOSE Reina says that his side has not missed Fernando Torres and that Luis Suarez is a better player than his international team-mate.

Reina and Torres come face to face for only the second time when Chelsea and Liverpool lock horns at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Torres left Liverpool for Chelsea last January and has scored only five goals in total for the London club. By contrast, his replacement Suarez has been a massive hit on Merseyside and already has seven goals to his name this season alone.

“Fernando is top class; Luis is as good or even better than Fernando,” said the Reds goalkeeper, speaking at the launch of his book Pepe: My Autobiography. “Those players are really special. You don’t find those kind of players very often.

“The club did a good job in signing Luis and hopefully he will be many years with us and hopefully he will score as many goals as Fernando.”

Reina considers Torres to be one of his best friends in football and expects him to rediscover the form that saw him score 81 times in 141 Liverpool appearances.

“He is the same player but it is a different team so it is difficult to judge (how he compares to his best form for Liverpool),” added Reina. “I think there are a lot of periods when goalscorers’ lives are like that.

“Sometimes you do it, sometimes you go through bad spells but Fernando does know how to score and is a very good player.

“With Juan Mata (another international team-mate) behind him he will deliver more goals and will be better.

“He (Torres) is such a good player and he will be a real threat for us – not just him because they have a lot of good players that can create us problems.”

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