Pepe Reina to play final match in Como's clash with Inter
Former Spain goalkeeper Reina, who also starred for Liverpool and Napoli, signed for Cesc Fabregas' Como in July.
"It has been much longer than I ever dreamed, yet it feels so short that I'd live it all over again," Reina said on social media.
"I'm proud and at peace with every moment I've experienced, the tough ones because they taught me, and the good ones because they've made me extraordinarily happy."
Reina played nearly 400 times for Liverpool, winning the FA Cup in 2006 and losing the Champions League final to AC Milan the following year. He also won the League Cup in 2012.
He then won the Italian Cup in the first of two spells at Napoli, and was part of the Spain squads which won two European Championships and the 2010 World Cup.
Reina also earned a Bundesliga winners' medal in his lone season at Bayern Munich in 2014-15.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
Club World Cup riches await four African challengers
By securing places, Al Ahly of Egypt, Esperance of Tunisia, Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa and Wydad Casablanca of Morocco are each guaranteed $9.55 million (€8.4 million) appearance fees. The bonanza is the equivalent of Sundowns winning nine league titles in South Africa, the African country with the richest football prize money. A win in the group phase will add $2 million, a draw $1 million, and a top-two finish and qualification for the knockout phase $7.5 million. Winners of the premier African club competition, the CAF Champions League, receive $4 million for playing 14 or 16 matches. No side will play more than seven matches in the Club World Cup. Here, AFP Sport looks at the African contenders, all of whom have competed in the Club World Cup when it was an annual seven-club affair. Ahly Spaniard Jose Riveiro will make his competitive debut as coach of the Cairo Red Devils when they face Lionel Messi-inspired Inter Miami in the tournament opener on June 14. "The best way to contain Messi is to stop the ball reaching him, but we also have a plan for him when he does receive possession," said Riveiro. He left Orlando Pirates in South Africa in May after a three-season stint in which he won five domestic knockout trophies and reached the 2025 Champions League semi-finals. Ahly have been busy in the transfer market, signing former Aston Villa striker Mahmoud 'Trezeguet' Hassan from Turkish outfit Trabzonspor and winger Ahmed 'Zizo' Sayed from arch Cairo rivals Zamalek. Esperance The Blood and Gold from Tunis will be coached by one of their former stars, Maher Kanzari, after Romanian Laurențiu Reghecampf was axed in mid season having been in charge for only four months. Kanzari delivered a domestic league and cup double, but they made a timid exit from the Champions League in the quarter-finals. Esperance boast a star striker in Algerian Youcef Belaili, whose seven goals placed him second in the Champions League Golden Boot race. The four-time African champions have struggled in previous Club World Cup appearances, finishing fifth twice and sixth once. Sundowns Sundowns are a club under a cloud after losing 3-2 on aggregate to Pyramids recently in a Champions League final they were expected to win. It was the second successive Champions League final loss for Portuguese coach Miguel Cardoso, who was in charge of Esperance when they lost the 2024 final to Ahly. Many Sundowns supporters were unhappy that Cardoso did not use fit-again veteran midfielder Themba Zwane in either leg of the title decider. Sundowns are captained by goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, who created history at the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations by saving four shootout penalties to take South Africa past Cape Verde in a quarter-final. Wydad The Casablanca outfit sacked South African coach Rulani Mokwena as the Moroccan season drew to a close after he failed to secure a 2026 Champions League slot for the three-time continental champions. He was replaced by local Mohamed Benhachem, who transformed a team that had drawn six consecutive domestic league matches into one that ended the campaign by winning three in a row. Wydad have signed Burkina Faso midfielder Stephane Aziz Ki from Young Africans of Tanzania and Dutch defender Bart Meijers from Bosnia and Herzegovina club Borac Banja Luka. They are the only African contenders who will not face a Brazilian club in the group phase, but are not expected to advance from a section including Manchester City and Juventus.
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
FIFA's Club World Cup finally faces the ultimate test
But the 32-team tournament, which will be played across the USA from June 14 to July 13, has faced criticism and scepticism since the moment FIFA president Gianni Infantino began to float the idea. As a completely new arrival in an already crowded football landscape it remains to be seen whether the competition proves able to carve out a regular place in the calendar. Players representatives, such as global union FIFPRO, have warned of excessive workload on players while others have questioned whether fans will turn out in big enough numbers for the group stage fixtures. "Players will have to perform at the end of an 11-month season with little prospect of getting enough rest before the following season starts," FIFPRO warned when FIFA formally announced the tournament in 2023. Certainly the event adds to an already busy schedule for the world's top players. Inter Milan's Marcus Thuram and Paris Saint-Germain's Desire Doue both played in UEFA's Champions League final on May 31 and then switched shirts to represent their country in the Nations League finals in Germany days later. They have since rejoined their clubs for the new FIFA tournament in which both sides are expected to advance to the latter stages. Those games late in the tournament, likely to feature the top European clubs against the best South American sides, should draw big crowds but it remains to be seen how well ticket sales go for the group-stage games with less globally famous clubs from Asia, North America and Africa included. Captivated Fixtures such as the June 17 encounter in Orlando between South Korean club Ulsan HD and South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns will certainly require all the power of American marketing to attract a full house. But FIFA hopes that with broadcasters DAZN offering free streaming of the tournament and the lure of giant club and player brands, fans around the world will be captivated by the new competition. "We are talking about something never seen before (that will) bring the magic of a national team World Cup to the club level," Infantino said. "This tournament will be the beginning of something historic, something that will change our sport for the better and for all future generations who will come to love it as we do," he added. In an era when players drive interest as much as, if not more than clubs, the involvement of stars such as Lionel Messi, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe should ensure social media is buzzing. Twelve of the 32 teams come from Europe including freshly crowned Champions League winners PSG, the continent's most successful club Real Madrid, Premier League giants Manchester City and Chelsea, and German powerhouses Bayern Munich. South America's six teams are made up of four Brazilian clubs, including Copa Libertadores winners Botafogo and their Rio de Janeiro rivals Flamengo, along with Argentina's two biggest clubs River Plate and Boca Juniors. Adding local interest, there are three teams from Major League Soccer -- Los Angeles FC, the Seattle Sounders and Messi's Inter Miami, as well as a pair of clubs from Mexico in Pachuca and Monterrey, who can expect plenty of support in the USA. Four clubs represent Africa, including Egypt's storied Al Ahly who open the tournament against Messi and Miami on June 14, while Asia's quartet includes Saudi club Al-Hilal. American fans regularly snaffle up tickets for the big European teams who come to NFL stadiums to play pre-season friendly games and so the added competitive element should see healthy crowds for the headline performers. Questions over how seriously the clubs would take the new competition became somewhat muted after FIFA announced the huge prize fund. The billion dollars are split between participation fees for all clubs and the rewards for those going deep in the tournament. The winner could leave with as much as $125 million. FIFA's current plan is for the tournament to be held every four years but it will be interesting to see if that changes after the first test of its appeal. If it is a flop, the critics will likely re-appear and question whether it is needed at all but should it be a roaring success, it is not hard to imagine some at FIFA pushing for it to be held on a more regular basis. © 2025 AFP
France 24
19 hours ago
- France 24
Inter Milan gamble on novice Chivu after end of Inzaghi era
Still reeling from humiliation at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final, Inter have gambled on novice Chivu after failing to get Cesc Fabregas from Como. "Inter Milan is pleased to welcome Cristian Chivu as the new head coach of the first team. The coach has signed a contract with Inter until 30 June 2027," Inter said in a statement. Chivu has agreed a deal with Inter worth a reported 2.5 million euros ($2.85 million) a season, taking charge of one of Europe's biggest clubs only a few months after beginning his senior coaching career with Parma. Parma confirmed Chivu's departure earlier on Monday, setting up his arrival at Inter where he won three Serie A titles and the 2010 Champions League as a player. Chivu was part of the iconic Inter team which won the treble under Jose Mourinho 15 years ago, a feat which the San Siro club tried and spectacularly failed to repeat this season. In total Chivu played 169 times over six seasons with Inter, and he also knows Serie A well due to the four seasons he spent at rivals Roma before moving north in 2007. The 44-year-old replaced Fabio Pechia in February and guided Parma to Serie A safety in his first job in football of any form since leaving Inter's youth set-up last summer. "I thank the club, staff, players and fans for having believed in me and our project," said Chivu on Instagram. "Together we overcame obstacles and wrote a page (in Parma's history) which will remain in my heart." Chivu's first match in charge of Inter will be against Monterrey in the Club World Cup next week, in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. He will lead a group of players who looked dead on their feet during their 5-0 hammering against PSG in the Champions League final late last month. Inzaghi left Inter in the wake of the Italians' thumping in Munich, taking the job at Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal who are also participating the Club World Cup. He had made light of serious financial problems in turning Inter into one of Europe's best teams in his four seasons at the Milan giants, but his final campaign ended in a bitter fashion and with no trophies. Inter had looked a decent bet for the Serie A, Champions League and Italian Cup treble when they booked a place in the semi-finals of Europe's top club competition by knocking out Bayern Munich. At that point Inter were three points clear at the top of Serie A, but they ended up conceding the Scudetto to Napoli on the final day of the season and were knocked out of the Italian Cup by AC Milan. That left the Champions League as Inter's only hope of a trophy but they lost in embarrassing fashion their second final in three years under Inzaghi.
