It was an open secret for months, specifically since Iker Casillas withdrew his candidacy for the presidency of the Spanish Football Federation, but Real Madrid has waited for the Christmas holidays and for such an important day as the Lottery to give away to his followers with a great gift: the return of the most successful Spanish goalkeeper to the white club. Specifically, the former goalkeeper and former captain of Real Madrid and the Spanish team, returns to the entity chaired by Florentino Pérez as deputy to the general director of the Foundation, Manuel Redondo.
Casillas has always stated that he was hurt by the cold way of leaving the club of his loves after having developed a brilliant career there for 25 years. He did not receive any tribute, he left for Porto in 2015 and was forced to retire in May 2019 after suffering a heart attack during training with the Portuguese team. However, he did not announce that he was hanging the gloves permanently until August 4.
“For Real Madrid it is a pride to receive one of its great captains back home,” said the Madrid club in its statement, which highlights that Casillas “is a legend” of the club, “represents the values” of the club and “he is the best goalkeeper” in history.
Iker himself assured in a message published on his social networks, after the club’s announcement, that he is “proud to return home.” “I face this new challenge with all the enthusiasm and desire in the world, thank you for the welcome,” said the exporter.
Born in Móstoles on May 20, 1981, he was called up for the first time with the first team at just 16 years old for a Champions League match in Trondheim against Norwegian Rosenborg, and did not make his debut in the First League as a starter until 12 September 1999 in San Mamés against Athletic. In total, he was at Real Madrid until the end of the 2014-15 campaign, when he went to Porto, where he played until that May 1, 2019, a heart attack ended his career.
With Real Madrid he achieved no less than 19 titles: 3 Champions Leagues, 5 Leagues, 3 Club World Cups, 2 European Super Cups, 2 King’s Cups and 4 Spanish Super Cups. In addition, with Porto he won two more leagues, a Cup and a Super Cup.
Absolute international on 167 occasions, he achieved, apart from the titles in lower teams (European sub’19 and World sub’20), the 2008 and 2012 European Cups and the 2010 World Cup. He participated in four World Cups, the last one in Brazil’14 , and was in five European Cups, the last in France’16, although he did not play for a minute, when Vicente del Bosque granted David de Gea the title.
He recovered happily from his heart attack, but did not play again. He announced that he would run for the presidency of the Spanish Football Federation to compete against Luis Rubiales, but on June 15 he assumed that he had no chance of winning and resigned from being able to lead football in this country.
“See you soon”
On such a special day for millions of Spaniards who followed the traditional Christmas Lottery sung by the Niños de San Ildefonso, Real Madrid announced their return home. He did so more than four years after July 12, 2015, the day on which Iker announced his departure from the merengue team. Then he did it alone and through tears, in an act that he himself has come to admit that he did not like it and that it should not have been goodbye for a player who had been at the club for a quarter of a century.
At that moment, he uttered an eloquent and “difficult” “see you soon.” Today, nobody disputes the justice of his return, even to occupy a smaller office. The coach, Zinedine Zidane, applauded this news during the press appearance prior to Wednesday’s game against Granada, in Valdebebas.
«We know who he is, what he has done, what he represents for Real Madrid. It is good news that he returns to the club of his heart to work and contribute what he knows. I was happy for him and for the club. Word of Zizou, former success partner of Iker Casillas and now the boss, once again undisputed, of the merengue bench.
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