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Birthday:

1982/08/31

Full name:

José Manuel Reina Páez

Place of Birth:

madrid, spain

Height:

1.88sm

Weight:
Position:

goalkeeper

Nickname(s):

pepe

Wife / girlfriend:

wife yolanda ruiz. has two daughters grecia and alma

Lives in:

liverpool, england

Club information

Current club:

liverpool 2005-

Previous clubs:

barcelonaB 1999-2000 barcelona 2000-2002 villareal 2002-2005

National team:

spain national football team

Youth clubs:

spain under 21

Facts & Background

    José Manuel Reina Páez (born 31 August 1982), commonly known as Pepe Reina or José Reina, is a Spanish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the English Premier League club Liverpool F.C. and the Spain national team.

The son of famed FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Miguel Reina, José Reina began his career with the FC Barcelona youth team and made his La Liga debut in the 2000–01 season. He was sent on loan to Villareal CF in 2002, becoming their first choice goalkeeper, and signed a permanent deal in 2004. However, he soon moved on to Merseyside club Liverpool, making his debut in 2005 and instantly becoming first choice goalkeeper. Reina won his first major honour in 2006, saving three out of four penalties in the final to help win the FA Cup. In 2007 he reached the Champions League Final, matching the feat achieved by his father in 1974, but the team lost to A.C. Milan. Reina has set a number of goalkeeping records for Liverpool and he won the Premier League Golden Glove award for clean sheets in his first three seasons at the club.

At international level, Reina played for Spain's youth team, winning the UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship in 1999. He made his senior debut in 2005 and has generally been selected as the second choice keeper behind Iker Casillas. He was part of the Spain squad for the 2006 World Cup and made one appearance in their victorious Euro 2008 campaign, earning him his first international honour.

  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, now known as The New Saints F.C. in the first 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 between October and December 2005 with Mineiro of São Paulo 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. 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. 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 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.

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

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 three.

During 2008 Reina also won his third consecutive Barclays Golden Glove after keeping eighteen clean sheets during the season.

On 22 March 2009, Reina then went on to become the quickest goalkeeper in Liverpool history to keep 100 clean sheets in all competitions. He hit that milestone during a 5-0 win against Aston Villa on his 197th appearance for Liverpool in all competitions.

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