Despite being recognized by many as one of the best goalkeepers in the game, Pepe Reina’s has a knack of performing one huge mistake from time to time. This time, it nearly cost Liverpool their place in the Europa League group stage, awkwardly fumlbing what should have been an easy stop, allowing Heats to score a goal at Anfield.
Never mind the fact that Luis Suarez came through, scoring an equalizer three minutes later (88th minute) that put Liverpool, eventually, in the next stage. Reina already had one pretty big mistake in the 2-2 draw against Manchester City earlier this week which allowed the champions to come back from Martin Skrtel’s opener. Everyone remembers his own goal from the match against Arsenal two years ago.
Now he opens another season with a couple of big mistakes, and for a keeper like Reina, who is known to have his confidence take big hits after these kind of mistakes, rebounding from his poor performance is going to be crucial if Liverpool are to finally give their season a kick-start this weekend.
It’s funny – A keeper can have a perfect day for 90 minutes but one mistake is what we’ll always remember. The problem for Reina, who recently committed his future to Liverpool for years to come, is that these mistakes are happening more and more.