PEPE REINA has labelled Steven Gerrard as an “inspiration” and revealed his delight at having the Liverpool FC captain back to full fitness.

Gerrard opened the scoring against bitter rivals Manchester United on Saturday afternoon only for Javier Hernandez to snatch a late equaliser for the Old Trafford side.

Reina says the disappointment Kenny Dalglish’s men felt after pushing the reigning Premier League champions so close must be taken as a positive outcome from the weekend’s early kick-off – as should the first start in over six months of skipper Gerrard.

With Gerrard back in the picture and a summer of rebuilding behind them, Reina says it remains too soon to talk about bridging the gap between themselves and Manchester United but progress is certainly being made at Anfield.

“Stevie is the badge of this football club, the soul of this team and we are more than happy to have him back in the team,” said the Spanish goalkeeper.

“Hopefully he will be back for a long, long time. Just by the fact that he is on the pitch it is an inspiration for us, he always lead by example and anything he does he does with passion and a lot of commitment. He is a born winner.

“It is a positive thing to be disappointed not at having beaten Manchester United,” he added.

“It speaks well about the hunger of the team and the performance of the team that clearly we deserved three points. We have to keep going and keep winning games.

“We have been consistent I think we have had just one poor game – Spurs – so I think that is not a bad balance at all.

“It shows without doubt the progress that has been made. We are all much happier than a year ago.