Iker Casillas is not the best goalkeeper of the XXI century (and nearby). They have been more technically complete, with a mastery of the aerial game that he never had and with more interest in polishing their qualities to the limit. If real football were virtual and we gave notes from 0 to 100 to each of its characteristics, its average in fullness would be lower than that of Buffon , Oblak , Neuer . So, no, Iker is not the best goalkeeper of the 21st century. But it is the most important. Long. And that is worth more.

Why is it worth more? The legacy. In the 70s and 80s, Dustin Hoffman won two Oscars and was nominated three other times. Harrison Ford barely scratched an unsuccessful candidacy for Sole Witness, but while ... it was Han Solo , Indiana Jones, and blade runner Rick Deckard , three of the most iconic characters of the time. At the time, no one disputed that Hoffman was a better actor. Surely, nobody will discuss it today either. But when we remember the cinema of those years, the one that will appear in our heads will be Ford with a fedora and a whip, a dark vest and a half smile or watching tears disappear in the rain.

The same will happen with Iker: the punctual debates are blurred, but the importance remains untainted. When in the future we think of a goalkeeper from the last 25 years, Casillas will appear.

Often, in a thesis that unites antimadridistas and mourinhistas, Casillas is accused of being a very lucky goalkeeper. As if it was a bad thing. Good fortune, like strength, speed, or health, is also talent. And when it is used to belittle a recurring success and not a punctual action, when an extravagant Eurocopa like that of Greece is not justified with it but four World Cups like those of Italy, it ceases to be talent to become nonsense. Iker was lucky? Yes, the luck of being great and playing in two teams, three-time Spain and Real Madrid, which allowed him to exhibit that quality in the best cinemas. It is not a demerit, it is an extra.

What is certain is that chance was decisive in the two games that defined the beginning and end of his legend, understanding his stay in Porto as the final 10 minutes of the film that show us the hero sitting in the sun with a beer after finishing his adventure: they give a closure, we are happy for him, but they do not contribute to the plot. But before that happened Lo de Glasgow and Lo de Lisboa .

In 2002, Iker had already won a Champions League, but Del Bosque had taken away the title to benefit César when Madrid traveled to Scotland to seek the Ninth against Leverkusen. With 2-1, César was injured in the final stretch and Casillas entered to cancel the German siege with several stops of those silly laughs, miracles that you see and do not believe. Any debate ended there. Would his career have been the same without that injury? Would it have disappeared like so many promises turned into shooting stars? We do not know. Fortunately.

In 2014, perhaps badly wounded by the war with Mourinho , perhaps prey to the passage of time, Iker was rushing his time at Madrid in, of course, another Champions League final. For more than an hour, he seemed destined to say goodbye, having given Atleti the trophy without the need for Simeone's men to shoot on goal, since Godín's goal was only a goal because Casillas decided to go for a walk without a destination for a few seconds. But Ramos appeared and with a head butt he erased the red and white illusion and the goalkeeper's error, turned today into a footnote, but that would have made headlines if Sergio had not scored.

In the 12 years that go from one game to the other, the legend that ends today was built and is not discussed. Or it shouldn't be. Casillas was no luckier than any soccer star: he had it at better times. That does not detract one iota from the goalkeeper who marked the Spanish football of our era, the goalkeeper who saved a World Cup, the goalkeeper who did not want to be perfect and still almost succeeded. Let's be serious: with Casillas, luck was ours.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Real Madrid
  • Iker Casillas
  • Brad Pitt
  • sports
  • Atlético de Madrid
  • Sergio Ramos
  • Spain National Soccer Team
  • soccer

Direct Free The Pharaoh Florentine Pyramid

The notes of the day A Sevilla of Champions

The Iberian ringThe triumph of balance

See links of interest

  • Last minute
  • Spanish translator
  • Programming
  • 2020 calendar
  • Horoscope today
  • League classification
  • Santander League Calendar
  • Movies today
  • Themes