Farewell Iker!

Iker Casillas : Boy with a dream

There are many ways to celebrate the career of Iker Casillas, who retired Tuesday aged 39, some 21 seasons after making his top-flight debut for Real Madrid at 18. The goalkeeper captained Spain to their first ever World Cup and won two European Championships and 167 caps along the way. He won five league titles, two Copa del Rey and three Champions League crowns for Real Madrid. Only one man has made more appearances for the club in its illustrious history. 

His fortune changed dramatically as a 16-year-old when he was summoned from the classroom to sit on the bench for Real Madrid, improved further when he replaced the injured César Sánchez during a Champions League final against Bayer Leverkusen and began bordering on the outrageous when he earned his place in Spain’s 2002 World Cup side.

At 20, Casillas is the goalkeeper of the first iteration of the Galacticos, with Luis Figo, Raul and Zinedine Zidane. The launch angle to his career is nearly vertical at that point and yet, in the second half of the 2001-02 season, the wheels come off. He has some poor performances, struggles in the way young keepers  do and is dropped in the spring. Suddenly, he is too small. Too young. Too attached to the club colors to be cool under pressure.

On the bench for the 2001-02 Champions League final in Glasgow, watching Real Madrid take a 2-1 lead over Bayer Leverkusen thanks to Zidane's epic long-range wonder goal. And then, with 22 minutes to go, Cesar Sanchez, who had supplanted him as Madrid's No. 1, falls hard on the Hampden turf and signals for a change. Casillas comes on and makes a string of stops, two of them spectacular kick-saves, to preserve the victory. A few months later he is again Madrid's starting keeper, a job he would retain for the next decade.

Fast-forward 10 years. It's the 2012-13 season, Jose Mourinho is in charge and the rivalry with Barcelona is as poisonous as ever. So too is the atmosphere at Real Madrid. Mourinho suspects there's a rat in the dressing room, airing the club's dirty laundry. As the club struggles, threatening to implode, fans are split between Mourinho-backers and Mourinho-haters. Casillas becomes a scapegoat, blamed for being the dressing room mole. He's dropped for backup Antonio Adan, and to reinforce the point, Mourinho buys another keeper, Diego Lopez, halfway through the season.

Perez unceremoniously shows Casillas the door. He's 34, by no means old for a keeper, but when you leave Real Madrid, especially when you've been there since the age of 9, the only way is down.There were rumours that Casillas would retire; instead, he signs for Porto as a free agent. A smaller league in Portugal, and less money, but a chance to play. And, more important, to get back up. He plays for four seasons, enduring both the thrills of another league title as well as a sustained period on the bench in his third year, followed by a return to the lineup. It's a microcosm of his career: another fall, another rise.

Casillas has not played since a heart attack in 2019 and in February announced his intention to run for president of the Spanish Football Federation before withdrawing his candidacy because of the coronavirus. Apparently determined to swap his uniform of garish short-sleeved shirt for a blazer, in a comical and slightly sad development he is reported to be in advanced talks regarding a return to Madrid to work as a special adviser to the president widely considered responsible for his ignominious exit.Announcing his retirement on Twitter, Casillas said: "The important thing is the path you travel and the people who accompany you, not the destination to which it takes you."I think I can say, without hesitation, that it has been the path and the dream destination."