I was terrified after moving to Liverpool – before eight wonderful years at the club

Pepe Reina has opened up about his adjustment difficulties following his move to Liverpool in 2005, revealing he was “horrified” by the weather in Merseyside upon arrival.

The former Spain international joined the Reds from Villarreal just weeks after Rafa Benitez led the Reds to a Champions League victory in Istanbul, and the only Barcelona player to have played nearly 400 times in total before 2013 release.

Speaking to LALIGAWORLD, Reina, who won the FA Cup and League Cup as a Liverpool player, spoke of the dramatic change in climate he experienced when he first signed for around £6m ago by almost 19 years.

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“(In 2005) I went to what was perhaps the most important sporting period of my career, to the club where I competed the best, where I felt the best personally and collectively, in terms of competitiveness. I spent eight wonderful years at Liverpool,” said Reina.

“I spent two weeks looking at my wife and going, ‘What is this?’ I came from somewhere where the average temperature was 25 degrees but there in July it rained non-stop for two weeks I didn’t expect it and it was hard to adapt.

“It was hard because I was still a kid; I was 23 years old. Ultimately, though, even though it can be difficult to adjust, you adjust to anything when you’re doing well, when you’re happy, when you’re comfortable. and when you are valued, the rest is almost secondary.

“We dedicated ourselves to what we were doing, to make a great family, because it’s very cold there and it was the best time, so everything went great.”

Reina added: “Well, when I left Villarreal that summer and without having made my debut for Liverpool yet, the national team called me up for the first time.

“So the credit goes to what I did at Villarreal last year and it was the consistency after that, doing well at Liverpool, that kept me in the national team. I am privileged and lucky to have shared so much with that generation of footballers.”

Reina initially joined Napoli on loan in 2013 before completing a permanent move to Bayern Munich in 2014.

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