Pepe Reina

Pepe Reina is a goalkeeper of Liverpool F.C. He was born on 30 August 1982 in Madrid, Spain.

Pepe began his career in local club Madrid Oeste, where he played for the youth team till one of the strongest squads in the world Barcelona offered him to come on a trial in 1995. The coach of the youth team confirmed his intention to invite the promising goalkeeper and Pepe became a trainee of the Catalan club, where he played in the youth team during four years till 1999.

In 1999 Reina received an offer to sign a long-term professional contract. Pepe accepted the offer almost at once and officially joined Barcelona. However, the rookie was sent to the reserve team for 1999/2000 so that he could become more experienced. Pepe made 41 appearances for Barcelona B.

In 2000 Reina’s dream came true and he moved to the first team. However, the position of a first-choice goalkeeper was rather changeable and the footballer could not be sure of his future in ‘Blaugrana’. Pepe took part in 30 matches for the club during two seasons.

In 2002 Reina drew the attention of Villarreal and signed a long-term contract with the club. During three seasons Pepe was the main goalkeeper of the squad and made 109 La Liga appearances.

In 2005 Reina attracted the attention of English side Liverpool. The club paid a pretty penny for the talented goalkeeper and signed a long-term contract with him in the summer of 2005. From 2005 Pepe was a first-choice goalkeeper of Liverpool and he took part in all league matches each season. Reina featured in 285 games for the club during eight years of his performance.

In 2013 Liverpool signed a talented Belgian keeper Simon Mignolet and decided to loan Reina out to Italian side Napoli.

From 1998 till 2003 Pepe was capped for the Spain national U-16, U-17, U-18 and U-21 teams and made total 32 appearances. In 2005 he began to play for the senior national team.