Aston Villa’s Pepe Reina is no longer the player he was.
A number of current and former players have named their dream teams as part of a project for Spanish newspaper Marca.
One of the more surprising selections was Aston Villa goalkeeper Pepe Reina.
Reina was named by former Valencia and Barcelona striker David Villa, in his dream XI based of players he played with or alongside.
Reina was part of Spain’s World Cup winning squad in 2010, but only as a back-up.
The number one at the time was Iker Casillas, but the bitter Real-Barcelona rivalry likely saw David Villa’s vote go in another direction.
Reina enjoyed spells for Liverpool and Napoli, also featuring for Bayern Munich briefly and most recently AC Milan.
His loan spell at Aston Villa has been difficult, with the team struggling, and his own recent error against Leicester highlighted that he is not the player he once was.
At 37, he’s doing well to be playing in the Premier League at all, and the respects he has from his peers says a lot.
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