Only a few months into his debut season in charge of Slovenia’s first division team Celje, the 41-year-old resigned.
Fans of English football will recall him from his two years at Liverpool, as well as his brief stays at Man City and Watford.
After beginning his career at Mallorca, Riera moved to Bordeaux and later returned to Spain with Espanyol.
Rafael Benitez paid £8 million to sign him to the Premier League team in 2008, but their connection was not the finest.
2010 saw him suspended for making controversial remarks about the Liverpool manager at the time.
“When the coach says nothing to you and you are well, with no physical problems and training well, you cannot help but think it must be something personal,” Riera stated in an interview with Radio Marca.
Following those remarks, Riera would never play another game for Liverpool; he was injured for the remainder of the campaign and later traded to Olympiacos.
Afterwards, Benitez, who had also left that summer, said he had apologized to his compatriot.
“My perspective has changed since becoming a coach,” Riera said to the Liverpool Echo. “I’ve apologized a lot to him (Benitez) and to a lot of my coaches over my career.
“As a player, you just see yourself, you see that you want to play, you just see your part. But it’s so difficult to keep 25 players happy, it’s impossible.
You have to make decisions as a coach, someone will like it and someone won’t like it. It’s like this, as simple as that.”
Controversy continued to follow Riera after he left Anfield, with him reportedly having a fight with Felipe Melo at Galatasaray.
He would also later be ‘sacked’ by Udinese, without playing a game for them, for attending a poker tournament rather than reporting for a match.
Riera disputed that version of events in a message on social media, where he said: “To clarify, the termination of the contract has been by mutual agreement for a long time and not for non-sporting reasons”.
