Continental Partner Iker Casillas
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Spanish sports reporters wax lyrical every once in a while. “The good Lord is white, his place is between the posts of Real’s goal.” Full of pathos and equal to hero worship, these were the words Spain’s “El Mundo” newspaper used to describe the Madrid goalkeeper, Iker Casillas. |
 Continental Partner Iker Casillas in action |
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Iker Casillas – a name well known in Spain, a country with no shortage of stars. As a teenager just six years ago, the Real Madrid professional still used public transport to get to the training sessions with his team-mates, who all earned millions every year for their talents. Casillas belonged to the exalted circle even though he did not possess a driving licence. He was not old enough. |
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 Iker Casillas at training |
In the car park where the “Royals” such as the Brazilian FIFA World Cup™ winners Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo, the French FIFA World Cup™ and European Championship winner Zidane, Portugal’s idol Figo, Spain’s superstar Raul and England’s diva Beckham all pose with their luxury limousines, one parking space remained unused for a long time. That of Iker Casillas. In the meantime Casillas favours vehicles made by Chrysler and Audi. |
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The Spanish part of the Iberian peninsular believe Casillas could even follow in the footsteps of the legendary goalkeeping idol Ricardo Zamaro from Barcelona, who set the world’s standards back in the 1930’s. |
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Casillas has already climbed high up the rankings of the world’s goalkeepers. He found the limelight like no other young goalie. The keeper in Real’s goal with the No 1 on his back only wore the No 23 jersey at the EURO 2004. And he only played three games at the championship in Portugal. But at the end of the year after the statisticians had “calculated” everything the keepers had to handle, Casillas was shown to have one of the continent’s safest pair of hands. Behind Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus/185 points), Petr Czech (Chelsea/125) and Dida (AC Milan/78), the Spaniard placed fourth out of 86 nations with 75 points. The Italian team’s goalkeeper Buffon is also the role-model for the Spanish keeper. Earlier in his career, he also named the Dane Peter Schmeichel and Ricardo Zamora as his idols. |
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Casillas is a genuine Madrilene and a real “Realisti”. In the star ensemble made up of great players from all over the world, only Iker and captain Raul hail from Madrid. Real fans naturally revere every player donning a sparkling white shirt. But, home town matadors like Casillas are deeply loved. |
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Iker Casillas Fernandez was born on 20 May 1981 in the Spanish capital. He joined Real Madrid at the age of eight and has spent all of his career up to now at his home club. In his youth, Casillas won the FIFA World Youth Championship 1999 as a member of the Spanish team. Casillas made his debut in Real’s goal on 12 September 1999, his first international game came on 2 September 2000 (2-1 against Bosnia-Herzegovina). In 2000 and 2002, he won the Champions League with Real. He also played in the Spanish team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup™ in Japan and South Korea. |
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The goalkeepers strengths are the man on man situation, his marvellous reactions and especially when keeping on the line. When Real suddenly slipped into a crisis, the young man proved very reliable. Whilst quite a few players in front of him were putting in below par performances, Casillas was in top form. As a club player, he has won everything a footballer can win. He would love to show everybody that he’s one of the world’s best goalkeepers whilst playing in the Spanish team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Germany. |