The club captain has endured trying times in 2013
and suffered an injury on his return to the starting
line-up on Tuesday. However, he has no plans to
leave Spain in January
SPECIAL REPORT
By Ben Hayward | Spanish Football Writer
Iker Casillas is set to stay at Real Madrid until at least
the summer despite his nightmare year at the Spanish
side, Goal can reveal.
The Spain skipper has barely featured for Madrid in
2013 and was hit with a fresh setback on Tuesday as he
was forced off through injury after just 13 minutes of
his first-team return at Galatasaray in the Champions
League.
The 32-year-old has considered his future since being
omitted by Jose Mourinho last season and again by
Carlo Ancelotti for the opening rounds of La Liga this
term. However, he has been given hope of regaining his
starting spot after appearing last week and would now
be unable to sign for another Champions League side in
January, in any case, following his cameo in Istanbul -
which included three fine saves before he was replaced
by Diego Lopez.
But there is more to it than that.
Casillas' partner, journalist Sara Carbonero, is 25 weeks
pregnant and expecting a baby boy either late this year
or in January 2014. Asked last week whether the baby
would be born in Madrid, Carbonero gave an
ambiguous reply:"I don't know if my son will be born
in Madrid or not," she said. "But now is not the time to
talk about that ..."
However, the pregnancy makes a move in January
almost impossible: Carbonero will be unable to travel in
December and will not want to uproot in the advanced
stages of the antenatal procedure, while adapting to life
in a new city without the support of friends or family is
also far from ideal following the birth of a first child.
With all of that in mind, Casillas has decided to remain
in Spain until the summer at least.
At Madrid, however, there is concern that Casillas may
seek a transfer next July. The 32-year-old is seen as an
institution by the Santiago Bernabeu hierarchy, but
Ancelotti's goalkeeping coach Villiam Vecchi backed
Diego Lopez to start at the beginning of the campaign
because of his extra sharpness in pre-season training.
Iker, short of match fitness, was still playing catch-up;
he still is.
"It [the injury] was bad luck," Ancelotti explained on
Tuesday night. The Italian added: "[Iker] made a great
save and showed he is in great form - he will play the
next Champions League game."
It has since been confirmed that the goalkeeper will be
out for only around five days with bruising to his ribs
and he will therefore be back in the starting line-up for
Madrid's next European fixture: at home to Danish side
Copenhagen on October 2.
Although this is without question his most difficult year
at the Santiago Bernabeu, Casillas has been out of the
Madrid line-up before, having been benched by former
Real coach Vicente del Bosque back in 2001-02. Even
that had a happy ending as Iker made a heroic return
in the Champions League final of that same season
against Bayer Leverkusen, when he replaced the injured
Cesar Sanchez and made a number of important saves
as the Spanish side claimed the trophy for a ninth time.
Del Bosque (the first to drop Iker and now, ironically,
the only one picking him) caused controversy recently
by claiming the Spain shot-stopper has all but decided
his future: "I asked Iker how he is; he told me he had
got through some difficult moments, that he was more
comfortable and more relaxed," the national coach
explained earlier this month. "He told me he had half-
resolved his future ..."
Spending most of his time on the bench right now and
with fan criticism still ringing in his ears at every home
game as he is accused of being a media 'mole' by
sections of the Madrid support, Casillas will only
consider staying at the club in the long term if he can
regain his place in the side.
In the meantime, he has the support of his Madrid
team-mates, including Diego Lopez. As Casillas left the
pitch on Tuesday night, the two men embraced and the
Galician later said: "It was a knock [that he received]
and I could see that it was painful. We are all saddened
by our team-mate's injury."
Ancelotti, meanwhile, has never previously rotated two
goalkeepers in his 18-year coaching career, and the
Italian tends to favour tall players between the sticks.
"The best three goalkeepers I have coached are
[Gianluigi] Buffon (at Juventus and Parma, 1.91m), Dida
(Milan, 1.96m) and [Christian] Abbiati (Milan, 1.91m),"
he has said.
Diego Lopez stands at 1.96m, towering over team-mate
Iker (1.83m). So, while it is a big man who is keeping
the Spain star out of the Madrid line-up at the moment
(Lopez), it is a little guy (his soon-to-be-born son) who
will ensure Casillas remains in the capital for the next
few months, and, given his spectacular story of success
with both Real and Spain, anything could happen by
then.
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