José Manuel Reina
Reina, playing for Liverpool against Manchester City
Personal information
Full name	José Manuel Reina Páez
Date of birth	31 August 1982 (1982-08-31) (age 25)
Place of birth	Madrid, Spain
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Liverpool
Number	25
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999–2000 2000–2002 2002–2005 2005–	FC Barcelona B FC Barcelona Villarreal Liverpool	041 (0) 030 (0) 109 (0) 106 (0)
National team2
2005–	Spain	009 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:24, 12 May 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 6 June 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

José Manuel Reina Páez (born 31 August 1982 in Madrid), commonly known as Pepe Reina (his preferred nickname), or José Reina, is a Spanish goalkeeper who currently plays for Premier League club Liverpool F.C. The son of famed Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Miguel Reina Santos, Reina has won the last three Premiership Golden Gloves awards.

Club career

Spain

Although he was born in Madrid, Reina started his career with La Liga club FC Barcelona, with whom he debuted at the age of 18. During the UEFA Cup 2000-01 campaign he played against Liverpool, in the semi-final, which Barcelona ultimately lost.

To get some first team football he joined Villarreal CF on loan in 2002, which was made permanent in 2004. Reina helped Villarreal to secure a UEFA Champions League position at the end of the 2004–05 season, saving seven out of nine penalty kicks that season.

Liverpool F.C.

He was signed by Liverpool from Villarreal in July 2005, with manager Rafael Benítez hailing him as "the best goalkeeper in Spain". Reina made his Liverpool debut against Total Network Solutions F.C. in the 1st qualifying round for the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League.

For the 2005-06 season, Reina took over as Liverpool's first choice goalkeeper, relegating 2005 Champions League hero Jerzy Dudek to the bench. Also at the start of the season Reina made his international debut for Spain in a friendly match against Uruguay on 17 August 2005. Spain won 2-0.

The season turned out to be a successful one for Liverpool as they improved upon the previous season's league placing and won the FA Cup. It was also a huge success personally for Reina as he notched up various new Liverpool records. On 3 December 2005 Reina kept his sixth consecutive clean sheet against Wigan Athletic F.C. in the Premier League to break the Liverpool club record for successive clean sheets in the Premiership era. He surpassed David James' record of five games from the 1996–97 season. Reina's incredible run ended at eight league games when Everton F.C.'s James Beattie headed past him into the Liverpool net in Liverpool's 3-1 win over their Merseyside rivals on 28 December 2005. Reina also broke Liverpool FC's consecutive clean sheet record with 11 consecuive stop outs between October and December 2005 with Mineiro of Sao Paolo finally scoring past him on 18 December 2005 during the FIFA Club World Cup Final.

A big talking point in the season occurred on 5 February 2006 in a league game against Chelsea. Reina, having made a challenge on Eiður Guðjohnsen moments earlier, was controversially sent off for patting Arjen Robben's face, who fell down theatrically.^[1], described as "going down like he'd been sledgehammered" by pundit Alan Hansen. Liverpool ended up losing the game 2-0 and Reina was given a three match ban.

On 16 April 2006 Reina celebrated his 50th appearance for Liverpool by keeping a clean sheet against Blackburn Rovers F.C.. As a result he holds a Liverpool record for the fewest number of goals conceded by a keeper in their first fifty games. The previous record was held by Ray Clemence in 1970–71 for conceding only 32 goals, while Pepe conceded only 29.

In May 2006 Reina was awarded the Premier League's Golden Glove award for keeping 20 clean sheets in the 2005-06 season.

In the final domestic game of the season — the FA Cup Final on 13 May 2006 — Reina made a number of errors to allow the Hammers to lead 3-2. Steven Gerrard saved Reina's blushes with a late equaliser, and then Reina made a crucial save in extra-time. The match ended 3-3 and went to penalties, where Reina saved three out of four penalties to gain the cup win.

During the 2006–07 season, despite making early season blunders (most notably against Liverpool city rivals Everton in a 3-0 defeat), Reina's status as Liverpool's number one keeper was further cemented by Liverpool's second keeper Jerzy Dudek conceding nine goals within a week in two cup ties against Arsenal. After the 2007 Champions League semi-final first-leg against Chelsea, Reina was awarded man of the match by Liverpool supporters thanks to a string of superb saves, including two stunning saves from England midfielder Frank Lampard. He repeated his good form in the second-leg, keeping a clean sheet. The match went to a penalty shootout where Reina reinforced his penalty-saving reputation, stopping two out of the three Chelsea kicks as Liverpool won 4-1. On his return home from the match, he discovered that his house in Woolton had been burgled. Three weeks later in Athens he became only the third player to follow in his father's footsteps by appearing in a European Cup final. Reina signed a new deal with Liverpool until 2012 on 7 June 2007.^[2]

In August 2007, Reina once again won the Premier League's Golden Glove Award for the second successive season after keeping 19 clean sheets in the 2006-07 Barclays Premier League campaign.^[3][4][5]

On 2 February 2008, Reina became the quickest goalkeeper in Liverpool history to keep a half century of clean sheets. He hit the milestone during a 3-0 win against Sunderland on his 92nd league outing, beating the previous record by 3.^[6]

During 2008 Reina also won his third consecutive Golden Glove, after keeping 18 clean sheets during the season. This has further cemented his reputation as one of the best keepers in the world.

Personal life

Reina married long term girlfriend Yolanda Ruiz in Córdoba on 19 May 2006,^[7] before joining up with the Spanish national squad for the 2006 World Cup. The couple have one daughter, Grecia, born in February 2007. He is also the next door neighbour of Liverpool striker and Spanish international Fernando Torres.^[8][9]

Statistics

• Correct as of March 31, 2008

(Cl.S. = Clean sheets)

Career Honours

Villarreal

Winner

• 2003-04 UEFA Intertoto Cup
• 2004-05 UEFA Intertoto Cup

Liverpool

Winner

• 2005-06 European Super Cup
• 2005-06 FA Cup
• 2006 Community Shield

Runner Up

• 2005 FIFA Club World Championship
• 2006-07 UEFA Champions League

Personal

• 2005-2006 Barclays Golden Glove
• 2006-2007 Barclays Golden Glove
• 2007-2008 Barclays Golden Glove

References