Reina singing and dancing on the table "La Bamba", a symbol song of the initiation rite of newcomers to the Rossoneri. Reina that "Donnarumma should copy and paste Spanish, and solve his problems" (copyright Gattuso). Reina that in Naples, after every game, made the full round of the field to collect the applause stopping, in case of victory, under the curve B to sing with the fans "One day suddenly ...", the chorus symbol of ultrà blue. Reina who leaves Vesuvius with tears in her eyes and arrives in Milan with a smile, sincere in both cases.
Josè Manuel Reina, aka Pepe, 36, Milan cup goalkeeper who debuts in the Europa League in Luxembourg against Dudelange and frequent of the good salons of the ball (Liverpool, Bayern, Naples), is this and much more. Character, charisma, personality: in a word, leader.
He knows Aurelio De Laurentiis, president of Naples, who called him "the unionist" because it was with him that he treated the team prizes. At the end of the 2017 season, during the traditional end-of-season group dinner, the producer turned to Yolanda, the player's wife, more or less with these words: "We need to control him a little more, this guy". No allusion to escapades, just an "affectionate" advice to better select friendships outside the field. A simple joke, he kept on clarifying the president.
The fact is that Reina and Mrs. left the room before the final toast and in the following days they used Twitter to practice sentences ("True elegance is to remain indifferent to people who are worth little", the one chosen by Pepe) only apparently cryptic , at least for those who had witnessed the scene. It seemed the end of the story between Reina and Napoli, also because De Laurentiis had already decided not to renew the contract of the player, who also had fired and flames to return to the city in which he had already been protagonist in the 2013-14 season before move to Bayern Munich, where he had found the door barred by a monster like Neuer.
The dissatisfaction given him by the role of "twelfth", but above all the visceral affection that bound him to Naples had pushed him, after only one season, to return to Campania. And here he found Maurizio Sarri. The two worked together for three years, but their bond was so intense and profound that it seemed like a lifetime. Reina was the coach's right-hand man: his voice in the field, the councilor, the team's mood thermometer. For the comrades Pepe was a point of reference.
The companion who makes you laugh (he loves jokes, videos of which you download on Instagram) and what, if needed, raises the voice to get back in line. Sarri was the one to ask, to demand, that his contract be renewed for another season. So it was.
Now Reina has transferred to Milan, against whom he had lost the Champions League 2007 when he was at Liverpool, his load of temperament and authority.
In Gattuso he found another coach with whom to confront himself looking into the eyes, in Donnarumma another competitor to the role, certainly not (yet) cumbersome as Neuer, but that as the German represents the future of the club. Reina, on the other hand, represents only himself. And he does it with such naturalness, that at Milanello they talk about it as one that seems to have been attending the dressing room for years.
Perfectly at ease, aware of their role, a second "number one" and not a "second" and enough, advises, encourages and encourages Donnarumma with the sincerity of those who are there not to act as tutors, but to play the role with companion in the sign of a healthy and respectful competition.
Gigio talks about Reina with sincere admiration: "His presence puts so much pressure on me, but it can only do me good". For now, Reina has not yet talked about Gigio. From his has a three-year period of 3 million and a half per season. Above all, he has a career that does not allow discussions. A career as a leader.
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EUROPA LEAGUE