Rafael Benitez's side had begun to develop a reputation for coming from behind to win with late goals this season - only to lose their unbeaten record and top spot in the Barclays Premier League with defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.

He said: "I don't know if scoring all these late goals gives us a psychological advantage against opponents, who might think we're never beaten.

"But I do know we are quite strong mentally and we keep fighting and never give up on the result until the very last second.

"We've scored a lot of late goals this season, but we suffered one at Tottenham - that's football."

Reina also felt Gerrard's goal saved the side from criticism about not taking chances and failing to handle expectations.

"We didn't feel any extra pressure because of what happened at Spurs. You're always going to lose some games," he said.

"We don't think we deserved to lose at Spurs; we played a lot better and had plenty of chances. Sometimes that happens; sometimes you get luck and sometimes you don't.

"But if Stevie hadn't have scored at the end against Atletico, then we know people would have been talking.

"You have to handle that kind of pressure here at Liverpool. People expect you to win every game. When you don't win, it's normal that people will talk about it."

Liverpool host West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, knowing a convincing performance is required to prevent doubts about their title ambitions being raised again.

Meanwhile, Benitez has backed new Argentina coach Diego Maradona's decision to make Javier Mascherano the captain of his country.

The midfielder is expected to lead Argentina for the first time when they face Scotland at Hampden Park on Wednesday 19th November.

"Mascherano has the character and mentality to be a captain," said the Liverpool manager.

"It is an important situation for anyone to captain their country. If someone says to you that you can be captain of England, Argentina or Spain it is a massive honour - because they are big countries."