Jose Enrique confident Liverpool can overturn Zenit defeat

The Reds trail 2-0 from the Europa League first leg

Defender Jose Enrique believes Liverpool have enough firepower at home to overcome their 2-0 deficit against Zenit St Petersburg in Thursday's Europa League last 32 second leg tie.

The Reds were beaten by Zenit in Russia following two second-half goals in three minutes from Hulk and Sergey Semak.

However, Liverpool, fresh from a morale-boosting 5-0 thrashing of Swansea in the Barclays Premier League, will approach the game with confidence, and Enrique thinks they can replicate their dominance shown in their last match.

"It was important to win, that was most important, and then 5-0 of course is good for the team because the next game is the most important for the season and we have to score at least two," Enrique said.

"It was a good reaction from the team. It was a really hard game against Zenit so it is good for us to have this result because now our confidence is there for the next game, which it is really important we win.

"They (Zenit) spent a lot of money so they have good players so we have to keep a clean sheet and then to score as many as we can."

Penalties from Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge and scores by Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho and Enrique against Swansea showed that Liverpool are not just reliant on a single player for goals as they ended a five-match winless run in style.

However, while Enrique was pleased to find the net, he regrets that Sturridge will be unavailable for this week's Europa League clash.

"It was a good goal, my second of the season," Enrique said.

"This is the first season I have scored in the Premier League and now I have two so I hope to score a few more.

"Daniel Sturridge is a great player. I know he can't play in the Europa League and that is a real miss for us because he already has a good understanding with Luis Suarez, and when they play together they score goals and we score goals as a team."

Despite Sturridge's enforced absence, Enrique remains confident home advantage and a fresh belief will see his side overturn the two-goal deficit and progress into the next round of the European competition.

He said: "Playing at home, the atmosphere will be very good and the most important thing is to score early, allow the confidence to grow and then we will have a very good chance in the game.

"We have a good chance even though we lost 2-0. If we can stop them scoring and have a clean sheet that will give us a good chance because I know we can score at home."

PA