Goalkeeper Pepe Reina has opened up about his specific battle with COVID-19. 

The AC Milan stopper who has been on-loan at Aston Villa since the January window outlined his symptoms in an interview with Corriere dello Sport.

Reina says he's been locked away in his house for 18 days but is recovering well now.

The 37-year old told Corriere, "From the first symptoms there was no doubt that I had contracted COVID-19.

"Fever, dry cough, a constant headache and a feeling of exhaustion.

"The moment I was scared was when I ran out of oxygen for 25 minutes, as if my throat had narrowed and the air could no longer pass.

"I spent the first six or eight days locked in a room"

Reina is unlikely to be required to return to action until the summer at the earliest, with football in both England and Italy suspended for the foreseeable future.

But the World Cup-winner with Spain in 2010, says his only focus is on his health, "Football is secondary at the moment, I don't care when we return to the pitch, what matters is health .

"I understand that there are great economic interests at stake, but it is the same in all sectors."

The former Liverpool man also raised a point that may sadden his former fans at Anfield, claiming that the happiest time of his career was while with Napoli.

Reina spent three seasons in Naples before leaving for Milan in the summer of 2018.

He told Corriere, "I can assure you that I have never enjoyed playing as much as I did in the three years at Napoli with [Maurizio] Sarri.

"The spirit with which we trained and played, and the quality of that Napoli game: we will never see a team move like that again. Sarri managed to take us beyond limits".