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Reina shrugs off Spain mistake

08 Sep 2010 - 08:52:58

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Liverpool's Pepe Reina has vowed to bounce back from his goalkeeping blunder which helped Argentina defeat Spain 4-1 in an international friendly in Buenos Aires.

Reina, who was making a rare international start in place of rested captain Iker Casillas, slipped while attempting to deal with a straightforward back pass and was unable to prevent Carlos Tevez from swooping to score Argentina's third goal.

The recently crowned world champions were 3-0 down at half-time and Reina was unable to atone for his error as he was replaced by Barcelona's Victor Valdes in a pre-arranged interval substitution.

But despite his howler in a sobering defeat for Spain, Reina insists he can bounce back and challenge Casillas for the number one jersey.

"In football when a goalkeeper makes a mistake the full weight of the team falls on your shoulders," he explained.

"It was an accident, I prefer a slip to a technical failure. I must accept it, see it as an accident and move forward.

"Now I have to think about making use of whatever minutes the coach gives me."

Speaking about the heavy defeat in which Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero also featured on the scoresheet, Reina added: "They were highly motivated because they played against the world champions and many Argentine players are known because they play in Spain.

"It's a loss like many in football. I wish I only got defeats in friendlies. We should not dramatise it. The third goal condemned us for the entire game.

"Argentina should be congratulated but the loss was too severe."