Milan loanee Pepe Reina revealed that he ‘lost oxygen for 25 minutes’ after contracting coronavirus and claimed he 'never had as much fun' as with Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli.

The former Napoli goalkeeper has been loaned out from his current employer Milan to Aston Villa in the Premier League and had previously revealed that he suffered symptoms of the coronavirus during his stay in the UK.

Milan loanee Pepe Reina revealed that he ‘lost oxygen for 25 minutes’ after contracting coronavirus and claimed he 'never had as much fun' as with Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli.

The former Napoli goalkeeper has been loaned out from his current employer Milan to Aston Villa in the Premier League and had previously revealed that he suffered symptoms of the coronavirus during his stay in the UK.

He has now revealed that he spent ‘eight days behind a locked door’ to avoid infecting his family members and went through a scary moment when he “lost oxygen for 25 minutes.

“I haven’t been out for 18 days,” the former Napoli goalkeeper told the Corriere dello Sport. “I have great company, though. It’s me, my wife Yolanda, five children and two in-laws.

“The house is large. However, I was isolated after experiencing the first symptoms of the virus. I had a fever, dry cough, a headache that never left me, that sense of complete exhaustion. The only scare was when I lost oxygen for 25 minutes, as if my throat has suddenly closed and the air couldn’t come through.

“The first six, eight days, I spent in a locked room.”

The 37-year-old spent one season on loan at the San Paolo before he moved on a permanent deal from Liverpool to Bayern Munich in 2015.

But Reina has revealed that it was an easy decision to return from Die Roten to Napoli when the opportunity arose and revealed that former coach Sarri gave him his best days on the pitch.

“Naples is my natural dimension,” he said. “In Munich I immediately noticed. Adding that I was behind [Manuel] Neuer at Bayern, the desire to return was immediate.

“I couldn’t have made a better choice. I can assure you that I have never had more fun than playing during the three years of Sarri’s Napoli.”

The rumour has it that Reina left Napoli for a stint in the Bundesliga amid a disagreement with the President Aurelio De Laurentiis, but the truth is different according to the Spanish shot stopper, who went on to praise the current Juventus coach Sarri for getting the best out of his squad at the Azzurri.

“The truth is a lot simpler,” he added. “Napoli were supposed to sign me on a permanent deal from Liverpool, but they didn’t find the resources and I had to look for another team.

“It was the President who brought me back. What a collective. The spirit we had in training and in games, and the quality of that Napoli team’s play.

“We will never see a team move like that again. Sarri managed to take us beyond our limits and potential. In those year, you saw the best [Kalidou] Koulibaly, the best [Dries] Mertens, an amazing Allan, [Raul] Albiol was a phenomenal leader, the precious contribution of [Jose] Callejon and [Lorenzo] Insigne.

“There were no stars, but just a great availability and humility. Our leader was the game he taught us.”

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