Viva La Rieralucion returns to Auckland

He showed a generation of kids how to play 6. I'm sure plenty will be inspired to emulate him. Awesome story.

Thanks Albert. My favourite player and will leave a big hole in that defensive midfield space.

Oh no, very bad news. Muchas gracias Albert.

One of the greatest Yellow Fever t-shirts too

Sensible decision. This year he was a shadow of  the first year Riera.

That said, Huge respect for what he achieved playing for us

One of the better players we had, Will he be going back to Ack/City or even coming back to NZ?.

shocked

same.  Cheers Albert, you were awesome.

A rare achievement to come in and almost immediately become indispensable, and then a legend in the space of 30 odd games.

It was a fabulous story when we signed him, but then he was just so damn good. 

A massive hole in Ernie's plans for next year I think. Has me very worried about us defensively with him and Siggy both retired.

Genuinely gutted about this, one of my favourite all time Nix players. It's a shame this wasn't announced earlier so we would have had a chance to send him off at the Rof. I still think he had a lot to offer but he did look to be slowing down a lot last season, so I can understand going out now.

Crazy story off course, backpacking around the world to marking del Piero. He'll have some great tales to tell the grandkids!

would not be at all surprised if he played again at Auckland City.

Was very impressed by Riera from the first time I saw him at the Home & Garden show game. His ability to break up the play and his off the ball movement to block off the passing lanes were unparalleled in a Phoenix shirt. Sad to see him leave even after a disappointing season.

There's talk on the 442 forum that he's going back to Auckland and still wants to represent the aws

Manny, Siggy, Riera all gone - huge gaps to fill now.

Think that it means that Lia will definitely stay too.

I heard a rumour that Dura hooked him up with a gig at Shortland Street Hospital

Fingers crossed if true esp the AWs part.

He's 15 years too old to fit into Hudson's plans

...and doesn't play for Onehunga Sport.

Damn gutted he is finished.  Excellent player.

cya reira thanks for having the dirtyest mo on the pitch. short stay but you really made a name for yourself

Can he join up with the AW's now please? I reckon he'd make a huge difference considering we have literally no midfield.

That's a huge surprise, retiring from professional football aged only 32.

Such an important player for the team.

Reminds me of Cantona suddenly retiring at the same kind of age (only in that aspect, obviously not in temperament).

Both could have played on for a few more years but decided their heart wasn't in it and they wanted to do new things.

For both, money wasn't a factor (Riera has stated this).

When you are already established in one career as a paramedic, the switch to fulltime football aged 29 must have been very hard.

It's a strange life being a fulltime pro footballer with long gaps between the training  and your main event being just a ninety minute match once a week. 

He may well have found it a little boring after a while - being a paramedic would be much more full-on work every day for several hours.

Still, he says he loved his Phoenix experience and to be offered the chance to become a pro at age 29 is extremely rare anywhere in the world. Overseas they make a huge fuss when someone takes up pro football in their early twenties.

There seems to be a huge amount of mutual respect between Riera and Merrick from the report on the Phoenix website:

 “Signing Albert was one of my best decisions in football.”

Tim Brown was another  one who left pro football early to pursue other interests.

Dura talked about it the other day at Siggy book event. Summary: Riera was never had aspirations to be a pro football and he wants to do others things in this life like travel.

Hopefully he loved his time with the Nix because I certainly loved it.

Becoming a pro footballer when it wasn't what you really wanted to do with your life is a bit insane. It's like becoming a pop star by accident.

;)

A good time was never had at the rugby.

And also having aspirations to be a pro football. What is a pro football?

Professional Football, the act of taking after Draymond Green and kicking balls for a living.

Mother Teresa was never had.

That you know of.....

Albert back with his compatriotas at ACFC

Moved from Wellington Phoenix Discussion to Wellington Phoenix Discussion

Reira is back but to Auckland City http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_i...

RIP League.

Not sure how I feel about this, he had a year on his contract with the Nix and we let him go because he didn't want to play professional anymore. Sure City isn't same level but still pretty professional level.

Then on other side if he isn't really committed to all that training and playing for he Nix, better he left when he did as it gave us time to sign other players.