PEPE REINA
“I lost at Anfield with Barcelona, but it was one of the best nights of my life – the Kop clapped me and we fell in love that evening”
“They offered me the choice to be a dog or a penguin. I don’t know why, but I chose to be a penguin.”
The rain is lashing down at Lazio’s fortress-like training ground in the rolling hills north of Rome. But there’s no morning that can’t be brightened by a story about the time Pepe Reina pretended to be a flightless bird and crooned for a television audience of 1.4 million people.
FourFourTwo are in Italy to speak to a 39-year-old who is still performing in Serie A, having become a Kop idol with nearly 400 Liverpool appearances, collected 36 caps and three successive trophies with Spain, and even emerged as a star of The Masked Singer.
Reina was always destined to be a goalkeeper: his father, Miguel, was a distinguished shot-stopper at both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, even if his latter spell is known for a mistake in the last minute of the 1974 European Cup Final. Pepe’s 10-year-old son, Luca, has taken up the gloves already, too.
Luca’s dad isn’t short of experience to pass on, whether it’s being punched by a fan during El Clasico, conceding to a beach ball, or his terrifying brush with death while at Aston Villa. Pepe Reina joins FFT to discuss it all…
What was it like to come through the Barcelona youth system at La Masia?
Aleix Bujan, Sabadell
It was even greater as a human being than as a footballer. My dad told me when I left home at 13 that it didn’t matter if I became a footballer in the end, but he was sure I would get the education I needed. Fortunately, my dream came true and I was able to represent Barcelona. Not many players from La Masia can make it to the first team; I was one of the lucky ones.
Mikel Arteta slept in the bunk bed underneath me at La Masia. I snored a bit from a young age, so the other kids would throw shoes and things – when they couldn’t hit me, they hit him instead! [Laughs] It was good fun.
Did you feel pressure at Barça, given your father had played for them?
@spursdab, via Twitter
It was always a little extra weight to carry. I’m experiencing it with my son now. It won’t be easier for him, but it probably makes you grow faster. You reach maturity before other kids. [: Did you know
