Former Liverpool and Aston Villa goalkeeper Pepe Reina was sent off in his last match before retiring as his Como side lost 2-0 to Serie A runners-up Inter Milan.
Reina, 42, had announced the final league match of the campaign would be the end of his 25-year career, which saw him win silverware at Liverpool, Napoli and Bayern Munich and be a part of the Spain squad that won the 2010 World Cup and two European Championships.
With Inter leading 1-0, Reina was shown a straight red card after he ran outside his penalty area and clipped the heel of Inter’s Mehdi Taremi with the goalkeeper dismissed after a check by the video assistant referee (VAR).
Inter’s win was not enough as Napoli’s 2-0 home victory over Cagliari gave Antonio Conte’s side the Serie A title.
Netherlands defender Stefan de Vrij headed Inter into a half-time lead and Joaquin Correa struck early in the second period.
Defending champions Inter, who face Paris St-Germain in the Champions League final next Saturday, needed leaders Napoli to slip up, but the Naples club’s victory leaves them on 82 points, one ahead of Inter on 81.
Reina came through Barcelona’s academy into their first team before moving to Villarreal and then on to Liverpool in 2005.
During nine seasons at Anfield, he won the FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Super Cup and played in the 2007 Champions League final as the Reds lost to AC Milan.
He also won the Coppa Italia with Napoli and the German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich and helped Aston Villa reach the League Cup final in 2020.
After spells at Lazio in Italy and Villarreal in Spain, Reina joined Cesc Fabregas’ Como side in July.
[BBC]