Iker Casillas - A normal man is coming back
At the age of 37, the legendary Spanish goalkeeper is finding the joy of playing again that he thought he left behind at Real Madrid.
In 2015, Casillas burst into tears at a press conference to say goodbye to Real Madrid, ending 25 years of association with the greatest club in the world. That day, a legend ended. Casillas left behind the most glorious years of his football career, left behind the nickname "Saint Iker" that fans had given him and entered a lonely life in a foreign land, at the age of 34.
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| Casillas burst into tears during a solitary press conference in 2015, announcing his departure from Real. |
Casillas continued: "Then suddenly the principal walked in. In the classroom, everyone knew I was playing for Real's youth team. And he said: Iker, step outside, I have something to tell you. I stepped out and he said: I think you should take a taxi to Barajas airport right away, because Real have just called your mother and the school. You have to hurry, so you can go to Norway with the whole team."
Casillas took the news, in his own words, as if he had won the lottery. The 16-year-old left school, went home, changed, took a taxi to the airport and met all the stars who would soon become his teammates. "I was sitting at the same table with Julio in class, and suddenly I found myself on the same flight as Fernando Morientes, Clarence Seedorf, Fernando Sanz, Predrag Mijatovic, Davor Suker and Raul Gonzalez," Casillas said. "It was like magic, and I will always remember that day."
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| From a young goalkeeper, Casillas was suddenly given a chance and gradually became a legend of Real. |
Three days after the Olympiakos match, Casillas made his La Liga debut, in a draw with Athletic Bilbao at San Mames. At just 18 years old, Casillas became Real's first-choice goalkeeper, a position he maintained until the 2001-2002 season. Due to a decline in form, Casillas lost his place to the more experienced Cesar Sanchez.
Casillas' development was thus halted. In professional football, when a goalkeeper is on the bench, it is difficult to regain his position unless the official goalkeeper... gets injured. And Cesar Sanchez's misfortune became Casillas's fortune. In the 2002 Champions League final, Cesar was injured in the 68th minute and Casillas came on as a substitute.
As a result, in the final 20 minutes of the match, Casillas produced one of the best performances by a goalkeeper in the history of Champions League finals, his brilliant reflexes making all efforts of Bayer Leverkusen to equalize meaningless.
Casillas recalled that time: "I was not prepared to enter the field that day. I always enter the field with short sleeves because it makes me more comfortable. That day I did not even prepare short sleeves because I did not think I would play. But the situation forced me to enter the field. There was no other way, I had to take out the long-sleeved shirt that the club had prepared... cut it, because it made me more confident. While Javier Minano, Real's fitness coach, helped me do this, coach Vicente del Bosque came over and gave me some instructions."
As a result, Casillas won his second Champions League title in his career, at the age of 20. Not only did he regain Cesar Sanchez's position at Real, he also replaced this goalkeeper to go to the 2002 World Cup. But the starting position still belonged to Santiago Canizares, who was in excellent form at that time.
Yet luck still came to Casillas in the most unbelievable way. While shaving, Canizares accidentally dropped a bottle of perfume on his foot and... injured it. Casillas immediately became the number one goalkeeper of the Spanish team at the 2002 World Cup and never gave up this position for more than ten years after that.
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| Casillas has had a career that every player dreams of, with 5 La Liga championships, 3 Champions League, 2 King's Cups, 2 European Super Cups... |
Mourinho made it clear that he did not like Casillas. He bought Diego Lopez to take Casillas' place. When Lopez was injured, he preferred to use reserve goalkeeper Antonio Adan than bring Casillas back. In 2013, while playing for Brazil at the Confederations Cup, goalkeeper Julio Cesar received a text message from his former coach Mourinho: "You are better at one-handed shooting than Casillas is at two."
The decline in form, as well as paying too much attention to political infighting, made Casillas lose himself. As a result, he was released by Real. Moving to Porto, Casillas had to start over at the age of 34. He struggled with a completely unfamiliar environment. By the middle of last season, Casillas had lost his official position.
Porto coach Sergio Conceicao told the media: "I'm really disappointed that Iker didn't train with the intensity I asked for." Having no other choice, he immediately dropped the former Real legend. For 20 consecutive matches, Casillas was only on the bench, and at times was even left off the registration list.
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| Casillas is finding his playing joy and form again at Porto. |
This season, at the age of 37, Casillas has played 20 matches in the championship for Porto, including 12 clean sheets. He helped Porto reach the knockout round as group winners. By successfully saving Manuel Fernandes' penalty for Lokomotiv Moscow, Casillas also became the best goalkeeper to save 11 meters in the history of the Champions League. Casillas also joined the club of players who have won 100 Champions League matches. This list previously had only one name: Cristiano Ronaldo.
Putting his glorious past behind him, Casillas is enjoying a new life, not flashy but more mature and grown-up. "The day Casillas leaves Madrid, people will understand him better," Xavi once said. In fact, Madrid people have always had a correct assessment of Casillas. It's just that when he enters his twilight years, Casillas has a correct assessment of himself, to live the life of an ordinary person with all the ups and downs, instead of the rosy path of his twenties.
