Sports

Iker Casillas playing for Real Madrid.

“I replaced Cesar in the team and I was able to play 25 minutes. I was 21, and was lucky that everything went well. Then, for the [2002] World Cup, Santi Canizares also suffered an injury and that allowed me to be a starter in South Korea and Japan. It was a turning point in my career, so what happened in Scotland and later in the national team, was fortunate for me. It is nice to come back here for another event.”

Iker Casillas has taken up a fair few column inches in the past couple of days as he returns to the scene of his first triumph in European football as Spain take on Scotland at Hampden Park tonight.

The 2002 Champions League final was the setting for Casillas to announce himself to the world with a man-of-the-match display after only coming into the fray for the final 25 minutes.

Saves from Basturk, Ballack and Berbatov ensured Zinedine Zidane’s goal was rewarded with “Big Ears” and Casillas has not looked back, establishing himself as Real Madrid and Spain’s number one and now counting the 2008 Euros and 2010 World Cup in his trophy cabinet.





With all the fuss over the Spanish custodian, Real Madrid TV have dipped into their archives and produced footage of when Casillas first started to dazzle the world, in 1996.

From the Under-15 Club World Cup in Bolivia, a baby-faced Iker produces a number of quality saves.

Iker Casillas in action, preventing a goal with another fine save.