Backup keeper Pepe Reina is leaving FC Bayern for Italian Serie A outfit SSC Napoli, where he previously appeared in the 2013/14 campaign. As deputy to the World’s Best Keeper Manuel Neuer, the 32-year-old Spaniard made three Bundesliga appearances for FCB and collected a German championship winner’s medal.
“Pepe Reina asked us to release him from his contract, because he has the chance of regular first-team football as first-choice Napoli goalkeeper,” commented FC Bayern München AG deputy chairman Jan-Christian Dreesen: “As a player, but especially as a person, he fitted in outstandingly with our team, so we naturally agreed to his request. We wish Pepe and his family all the best for the future.”
Holstad and Norway out of World Cup
Norway have unexpectedly fallen at the last sixteen stage of the Women’s World Cup in Canada. The Scandinavians were favourites to progress against England on Monday night but lost 2-1 and must now pack for home. FCB defender Nora Holstad was an unused substitute as Solveig Gulbrandsen handed her side a 54th-minute lead at Lansdowne Stadium, but England captain Steph Houghton (61) and Lucy Bronze (76) turned the game on its head and fired the Three Lionesses into the quarter-finals, where they meet hosts Canada in Vancouver on Saturday.
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