Was Iker Casillas lucky?! I just wondered what you thought. I think he's one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and I've rated him ever since he made his debut vs Atletico in 1999. But he was lucky wasn't he? Looking back at the time, the club had signed Cesar from Valladolid and loaned him back for the season. If they hadn't of done that, then what would have been Casillas' chances of making it into the first team? Maybe he'd have made the breakthrough a few years later, but maybe he'd have had to moved on. I think it's marvellous to see a top young keeper come through for such a big club. Very rare to see these days. He was fortunate though that Illgner (who was on his way down) got injured, and Bizarri (Himself a promising talent at the time) was out of form, and he was able to capitalise, or else maybe Real Madrid would have lost the best keeper in the world.

Maybe he got in the team a bit earlier than he should, but many people (including more than one Spanish coach) spotted his talent early on. His managers persevered with him even when he didn't play that well so he could gain experience, knowing that both for Madrid and Spain he was going to be the number one for a long time.

Post a reply