It was in his last press conference that his tears broke the hearts of many. He was a Real Madrid legend who went from hero to zero in a night. When did the rain start beating Iker Casillas?
Most love stories don’t have a happy ending. Iker Casillas started playing for Real Madrid at the age of 9 and he served them for more than 25 years and he was loyal to the club.
He was the most respected keeper in football history and most decorated player in history after captaining his national team Spain to the 2010 World cup and clinched the victory in South Africa.
The love story between Real Madrid and Iker Casillas went sour in December 2012. Iker Casillas was put on the bench for a young keeper. It is remembered in history that he was never on the bench for more than 10 years. It was a kick on the teeth and that’s where Iker and his then-coach Jose Mourinho started the war. It was a fight between the Spanish player and the Portuguese coach.
A few months later the Spanish fractured his left thumb and after the injury, he had bad performances that made Mourinho crown Diego Lopez as the first-choice keeper of the club. Iker was disappointed since he was having bad days on the pitch.
In the summer of 2013, Carlo Ancelotti was Real’s new manager and wanted to relaunch the career and made him number one goalkeeper but the Spanish legend had another obstacle to face.
That was whistles and boos in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. The fans couldn’t forgive his disappointing performances after 3 champions league, 5 Spanish La Liga titles, and 16 years of professional football of loyalty. He ended his career in Real Madrid as an invertible.
The club directors wanted to revitalize their line up and Iker was sacrificed for Keylor Navas and in July 2015 he announced his departure in tears. Real Madrid lacked class when it came to goodbyes, he was left alone to announce his split with the club. A few days the club’s president Fiorentina Perez organized a press conference to thank Iker but that wasn’t enough considering the achievements of the keeper. Even at the Bernabeu, the fans were not many to wish him good luck.
He tried healing his wounds in his adventure at Fc Porto where he won the Portuguese championship since his success was left behind since date Real Madrid have been struggling to replace Iker after a number of goalkeepers brought to club-like Keylor Navas, Thibaut Courtois but they have never matched the class of Casillas.
For Casillas and Real Madrid, all remains are his memories and footage at the archives.
About the author
Antonney is a freelance Journalist Who has much interest in sports and trends. He says it as it is and brings out the bitter truth and the thrill in the game.