Former Liverpool goalkeeper Reina confirms retirement
Pepe Reina will retire at the end of the Serie A season, and he could deny Inter the Scudetto when he represents Como for the final time.
Former Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina has confirmed he will retire from football after Como's final game of the Serie A season on Friday.
Reina joined Como, who are managed by his former Spain team-mate Cesc Fabregas, upon their promotion to the Italian top flight last year.
He has helped Como enjoy an excellent first season back in Serie A, as they are guaranteed to finish 10th ahead of their 2024-25 finale against Inter, who need to win and hope Napoli drop points at home to Cagliari to retain the Scudetto.
Reina came through Barcelona's academy before making his senior breakthrough with Villarreal, leaving them to join Liverpool in 2005.
During eight years as the Reds' first-choice goalkeeper, Reina made 285 Premier League appearances and kept 134 clean sheets in the competition.
Both of those figures were the most recorded by any Premier League goalkeeper between his debut in 2005 and his departure, first moving to Napoli on loan in 2013.
Reina spent a year as Manuel Neuer's backup with Bayern Munich between two stints in Naples, also having spells with AC Milan, Aston Villa and Lazio before he returned to Villarreal in 2022, staying with the Yellow Submarine until he joined Como.
In a post to X, Reina wrote: "It's been much longer than I dreamed, and it's seemed so short that I'd live it again.
"Just three days away from the 'last dance', so many emotions, people, and experiences come to mind that I can only summarise with a huge thank you.
"I feel proud and peaceful about every moment I've lived; the bad ones because they taught me, the good ones because they made me an extraordinarily happy person.
"See you soon, new projects are coming and football runs through my veins… I wouldn't understand this life without it. My most sincere hug."
Reina won the World Cup with Spain in 2010 as well as the Euros in 2008 and 2012, winning 36 caps but largely serving as a deputy to Iker Casillas on the international stage.