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Reina made his name in Liverpool, with whom he spent almost a decade following his departure from hometown club Villarreal in 2005.
Pepe Reina back in his Liverpool days (X)
Pepe Reina, a FIFA World Cup (2010) winner and a double European champion (2008, 2012) with Spain, announced his retirement from professional football after 26 long seasons.
The 42-year-old Spaniard, currently representing Como in Serie A, will hang up his gloves following their clash with Inter Milan on Friday.
The Spaniard has made 953 competitive appearances across all competitions at club level, plus 35 caps for the Spain national team.
The veteran stopper will turn 43 at the end of August, but felt that he still had ‘more to offer’ in the 2024-25 campaign.
He admitted that there was a nervous moment last summer after leaving Villarreal as a free agent, as he ‘couldn’t find a project’ that ‘excited’ him, but in the end, he joined Como in Serie A, coached by his former international colleague Cesc Fabregas.
“A beautiful career is ending, a complete life,” Reina revealed in an interview with Movistar.
“I feel very lucky for what I’ve experienced, it’s been a lot of years. I didn’t expect it, but I think the time has come and I want to end it here.
“There was a moment where I had a hard time last summer because I couldn’t find a project that excited me. I had more to offer, and this year has been the one that has made me see that I’m done now, in the sense that I no longer have much to offer from this position.
“I am very lucky, it has been a privilege.”
Reina made his name in Liverpool, with whom he spent almost a decade following his departure from hometown club Villarreal in 2005.
Signed for the Reds by Rafael Benitez following the Champions League triumph of the previous season, Reina went on the be the club’s first-choice between the posts for the next eight campaigns.
He was the winner of the Premier League Golden Glove award for most clean sheets in three consecutive seasons from 2005 to 2008.
But after Simon Mignolet was recruited to take the goalkeeper spot by the latter, Reina spent the 2013-14 campaign on loan with Napoli.
Then, in the summer of 2014, he said farewell to Anfield permanently by switching to Bayern Munich.
He was then shipped off to Italy the very next season again, where he represented the likes of Napoli, AC Milan, and Lazio (with a little loan to Aston Villa in between), before moving back to his beloved Villareal in 2022.
Then, in the summer of 2024, he made his final move, joining forces with his World Cup-winning teammate Cesc Fabregas at Como.
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