One of the many people around the world to have contracted the Covid-19 virus, Pepe Reina was one of the lucky ones, able to stay at home, battle through the virus and come out the other side unscathed.
Since then, the Aston Villa loanee has been giving interviews to various newspapers and media outlets around Europe, including El Larguero on Cadena SER, who wanted to talk about the potential return of the Premier League.
As things stand, there is no set date for football in England to return, as the Covid-19 situation continues to unfold, but there has been talk about maybe moving the games to China or simply wait and play them behind closed doors.
For the Aston Villa player, even just talking about it doesn’t seem right.
He said: “I think it’s very complicated. There are many consequences to what has happened and we need to save the health and safety of people. Many people are dying, and football shouldn’t be a priority in these times. Personally, I have no desire to return to play at the moment.
📻⚽ @PReina25 en @ElLarguero
"Está muriendo muchísima gente y el fútbol en estos momentos no debe ser una prioridad. Personalmente, en estos momentos a mí no me apetece volver a jugar" pic.twitter.com/XUSYx6fJ4N
— El Larguero (@ellarguero) April 3, 2020
“Otherwise, there’s other interests in play and like in all sectors this virus will affect, everyone can complain, but as I’ve said, for me, at this moment, football isn’t an absolute priority.”
The presenter then went on to ask what Reina would prefer: if the season was cancelled/finished as the tables currently stand or if he would rather wait to play the rest of the games, even if it meant they finished in October.
The Villa goalkeeper replied: “It’s all an unknown. Nothing is clear. These are just hypotheses.”
For Reina, he just wants to make sure as many people come out healthy and unharmed on the other side of this, and it certainly seems to have put things in perspective for the veteran shot stopper.
