âIker is leaving Real Madrid and itâs a disgrace and everyone should be ashamed of themselvesâ | by: Nando Vila (@nandorvila)
âIker Casillas, who has been at Real Madrid since he joined in 1990 at the tender age of nine, will leave the club to join FC Porto. It hasnât been made official, but at this point, it is only a matter of time. This puts an end to a complicated stand-off between the player and the club that you can read all about here. In the end, it looks like Madrid was so desperate to get rid of Casillas that it agreed to pay him 15 million euros to leave. Casillas is, without a doubt, one of the three most important Madridistas of all time, so if his exit makes little or no sense to you, I wouldnât blame you.
Itâs difficult to overstate the magnitude of Casillas at Real Madrid. The local boy from Mostoles, a large working class suburb from Madrid, he came through the clubâs youth ranks and broke into the first team as a starter in 1999 at 18, He ended up starting in and winning the Champions League final against Valencia. He would win two more Champions Leagues, including an absolutely epic performance coming on as a substitute in the 2002 final against Bayer Leverkusen.
He won five leagues and was named the worldâs best goalkeeper a record five times in a row. Perhaps most importantly, he captained Spain to two European Championships and one World Cup title, in 2010, with a vintage âSan Ikerâ performance in the final against Holland.
He is, without a doubt, the greatest goalkeeper to ever play for Real Madrid. Despite all of his greatness and all-around class attitude, Iker Casillas has been booed by a sector of the BernabĂ©u fans at nearly every single home game for the past two seasons. Where did it all go wrong between Casillas and Real Madrid? It all started with a phone call in the fall of 2011 between Casillas, then the captain of both Real Madrid and Spain, and Xavi and Carles Puyol, captains of FC Barcelona. Tensions were at an all-time high between Real Madrid and Barcelona, mostly due to the unprecedented provocative sword wielding of Madrid head coach JosĂ© Mourinho. Mourinho fomented an âus against themâ mentality, preferring to treat the relationship with Barça as an openly hostile one rather than one based on mutual respect. He even stuck his fucking finger in the late Tito Vilanovaâs eye at the end of a particularly heated Clasico.
Casillas, who at first bought into Mourinhoâs brinksmanship, realized that things had gotten way out of hand, and if that he didnât act as the captain of Spain, he would put that summerâs 2012 European championship campaign in jeopardy. He decided to reach out to Puyol and Xavi to try to calm the waters and build unity ahead of the tournament. By Casillasâ own account, the call was tense, but ultimately a key factor in Spainâs ultimate victory at Euro 2012. Mourinho saw this as outright treason and never forgave Casillas [âŠ] When things started to go south for Mourinho at Real Madrid, the coach grew increasingly paranoid. By the end, nearly everyone on the squad, including his former Caporegimes and fellow countrymen Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe had turned on him. Mourinho thought that the root of it all was Casillas. He began a sustained and orchestrated propaganda campaign through media outlets that were friendly to him, accusing Casillas of being a topo (mole) [âŠ] Mourinhoâs general âus against themâ mentality had a deep appeal among a hardcore sector of Madridâs fans, especially those that see the Madrid-Barça rivalry as part of the broader culture war raging right now in Spain. The tension between Madrid and Catalunya is at an all-time high. Iker Casillas is a victim of this culture war. Within it, heâs seen as a traitor to the cause. Thatâs a ridiculous and ugly conclusion, but itâs the way it is.
No one knows this better than Casillas, who has withstood the abuse in elegant silence. The club has not given him a hand, mostly because president Florentino PĂ©rez was never a huge fan of his. PĂ©rez is generally suspicious and probably envious of players that garner too much power at Real Madrid. It is why heâs currently at war with his three most powerful players.
So now PĂ©rez is finally getting his way, even though itâs going to cost him. Once again, heâs managed to unceremoniously boot out a club legend. In a summer where players like Steven Gerrard, Xavi, and Andrea Pirlo were given legendâs farewells, Casillas is getting thrown under the bus. But thatâs the way it always seems to be with Florentino, whether your name is Redondo, Hierro, Del Bosque, Figo, RaĂșl, Xabi Alonso, or Sergio Ramos.
Whoever comes to replace Iker Casillas will be stepping into a penalty box owned by a club legend for the last 16 years. It wonât be an easy task for whomever is chosen. It takes a special kind of mental strength to withstand the pressure of being Real Madridâs No. 1. In the end, that was what made Casillas so special. He managed to make the extraordinary ordinary, no matter how adverse the situation.â
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