Iker Casillas: "The Saint"
Spain’s world cup winning captain Iker Casillas is undoubtedly one of the greatest goal keepers the game of football has ever seen. Born on 20th May 1981, the Spanish has dedicated all his club football life to the Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Casillas came into the top football ranks through Madrid’s youth system, joining the junior squad in the 1990-91 season. His first game on the pitch for the senior side in Madrid colors as a substitute for the first choice keeper Bodo Illgner, in the 1998-99
season. The following season, he confined Illgner to the bench and became a regular in the first eleven. At the age of 19, the Spaniard became the youngest goal keeper to have ever played in a Champions League final in a match between Valencia and Madrid.
Madrid comfortably won the match 3-0.
In the 2001-2002 season, Casillas suffered a setback when he was replaced by Cesar Sanchez in Madrid’s goal after some poor performances. Casillas came back into the side after an injury forced Sanchez out of action. The Spanish captain has retained his
number 1 spot as Madrid’s goal keeper ever since. His heroics in the goal have earned him a place in the UEFA Team of the Year twice in his career.
In February 2009, the goal keeper legend became the most capped goal keeper for Real Madrid. During the summer of the same year, Manchester City were reported to have offered Real a record 129 million pounds. City’s rivals in the English Premier league Manchester
United also showed interest in the prized player. Madrid and Casillas denied rumors of any transfer. In the following season, following a magical save in a match against Sevilla, Casillas was showered with praise. England’s goal keeping legend Gordan Banks
said, "Casillas' reflexes are incredible. If he continues to play this well he will become one of the best goalkeepers in the history of the game."
At the age of 16, Casillas debuted for Spain in the under 17 team. As the captain of the under 17 team, he took his teams to a win in the FIFA World Youth Championship and the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup. He made his senior team debut at the age of 19 in a match
against Sweden. In the Euro 2000, he was put on the bench and did not get a chance to play. In the 2002 world cup, Casillas replaced Santiago Canizares as the first choice keeper. Canizares had to pull out of the tournament due to an injury. Casillas's performance
was acknowledged and he was given the nick name "The Saint" during the tournamnet after he made 2 penalty saves against the Republic of Ireland.
Spain failed to impress anyone in the Euro 2004 and the 2006 world cup. Casillas assumed captaincy of the Spanish side before Euro 2008 after Madrid team mate Raul was dropped from the Spanish side. Casillas became the first goalkeeper-captain to lift the
UEFA European Championship trophy after Spain beat Germany 1–0 in the final of Euro 2008.
In a friendly against Argentina, he made his 100th appearance for Spain. Casillas, along with fellow substitute goal keeper Pepe Reina, made the record of the longest time without conceding a goal for Spain. The pair went unbeaten for 710 minutes.
Spain entered the 2010 world cup as favorites and on 11 July 2010, Casillas captained theSpanish sidde to its first ever world cup win. Spain is the favorites to win the Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine and the inspirational Spanish captain will be hoping
to retain the European Championship.
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