Pepe Reina recalls the terrifying moments coronavirus battle left him unable to breathe

Tony Mogan1 April 2020

Aston Villa goalkeeper Pepe Reina has recalled the ‘worst moment of his life’ when coronavirus symptoms left him struggling to breathe for 25 minutes.

Reina, currently on loan at the Premier League side from Napoli, began feeling unwell two weeks ago and described to Corriere dello Sport the terrifying ordeal that left him feeling as if his ‘throat had closed’.

“It is only now that I am winning the battle against coronavirus,” the former Spain international said.

“I was very tired after experiencing the first symptoms of the virus,” he said. “A fever, dry cough and a headache that never went away. It was just that constant feeling of tiredness.

“The most difficult moment was when I could no longer breathe, the 25 minutes I ran out of oxygen. It was the worst moments of my life.

“The only real fear I had was when I understood there was no oxygen: endless minutes of fear, as if suddenly my throat had closed. As a result I spent the first six or eight days indoors.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in