Followers of English football will remember Pepe Reina from his time at Liverpool.
The goalkeeper arrived at Anfield from Villarreal in 2005, a year after his compatriot, Rafael Benítez, was appointed as Reds manager.
In his first season at the Merseyside club, Reina pushed Jerzy Dudek, the then first choice custodian, to the bench.
The Spaniard was Liverpool’s No.1 for seven seasons in a row before losing his place to Simon Mignolet in 2013.
His time with the Premier League side came to an end in 2014, after spending the 2013/14 season on loan at Napoli. Since leaving Liverpool, the custodian has had spells at Bayern Munich, the Naples club, AC Milan, Aston Villa (on loan) and now he’s at Lazio.
Futbol Emotion interviewed Reina and the keeper expressed his admiration towards Liverpool when revealing he spent his best years in England.
“I had a lot of fun in England as a footballer, they were the most competitive years of my career: always in the Champions League and every year we fought for the title,” Reina was quoted as saying by Area Napoli.
“A dream to play at Anfield. To play around 400 games with the team. Liverpool was the best thing that happened to me.”
Regarding the differences between the top leagues in Europe, he said: “What differences did I find in the various leagues? In England you defend less, in Italy the pace is lower, with more breaks. But how you play in Germany and England is completely different, with more pace.”
