Uneasiness of Real Madrid's Iker Casillas Saga Rumbles on at National Level
It was Gerard Pique who drew the headlines, but he hadn't been the centre of the night's juiciest story. At the Estadio Reino de Leon, the jeering of the Barcelona defender from sections of the crowd had taken away the spotlight from a goalkeeping saga, one that continues to engulf both Spain and Real Madrid as it intensifies.
The night pitted the Spanish against Costa Rica. But that was merely a sideshow, an inconsequential story with one compelling subplot: Iker Casillas vs. David De Gea vs. Keylor Navas. The latter two were stationed at each end; the former in between them on the sidelines. It was spectacular symbolism.
Casillas and Navas are already at Real Madrid. De Gea is expected to arrive and supplant them both. It should be simple. But it's not—it's anything but.
This goalkeeping saga that's gripping both club and country is no longer just a footballing issue. It's now a matter of loyalties, legacies, trenches and politics. There's a divide, and it's deep and vicious.
Both the incumbents want to stay. "I'll be in this goal next season," Casillas told Cadena SER in May, per Sky Sports. Navas said: "I'll compete with whoever I have to." De Gea is considered better than both, but he's not fighting with Casillas; he's fighting with Casillas' history. "He [Casillas] is not the goalkeeper he was, but the goalkeeper he was, the icon he has become, still plays," wrote ESPN FC's Sid Lowe. There is no meritocracy here. No rationality.
On Sunday, Vicente del Bosque dropped De Gea from the side that faced Costa Rica, inserting his longstanding No. 1 into the lineup for the European qualifying clash with Belarus. It was a decision not at all based on form. It was one of loyalty, trust. Attachment.
De Gea has looked Spain's obvious choice for 12 months. He'd seemed certain to grab the starting position when Casillas' glaring error against Slovakia last October continued a horror run in national colours. Instead, the Manchester United gloveman sat on the sidelines at the Borisov Arena, likely wondering what more he must do.
Afterward, David Silva said Casillas "is the best for us, that's all there is to say about the matter." Pedro said exactly the same. What else could they say? Debate rages around them; inflaming it from within isn't an option. But the reality is that Casillas has become a polarising figure. Thousands still adore him as they always have, but many have come to resent him, too.
On one side, he's the embodiment of institutional purity. Born and raised in Madrid, a lifelong Real Madrid fan, he's a product of Real's youth academy. At 16, he was plucked out of school and taken to Rosenborg in Norway to join the club's squad for a Champions League clash. By 19, he was standing in goal in the Champions League final. He's won that trophy three times with Madrid, once as captain. He's won La Liga five times. In total, he's collected 18 trophies at the Bernabeu, his senior career now spanning almost as many years. Casillas has been the constant of multiple eras in Chamartin. And for Spain, he's captained a hat-trick of major titles.
But to the other side in the divide, he's a player damaging club and country, hanging on too long amid a decline thanks only to his iconic status. Small mistakes are scrutinised by his detractors in a way they aren't for any other goalkeeper. At the same time, saves, no matter the difficulty, are proclaimed as definitive proof of his quality by his supporters.
He remains a hero to some and a has-been to others, the tension evident at the Bernabeu where he's almost whistled at and cheered in equal measure.
The truth, if anyone knows what it is, might lie somewhere in the middle.
But in De Gea, Spain and potentially Real Madrid have a solution to the problem. It's an uneasy one, but a solution nonetheless. De Gea is now a better keeper than Casillas, one at the top of his game and one who will only get better. When Diego Lopez departed to be replaced by Navas, Marca called it "a political solution to a footballing issue." De Gea should now represent a non-political solution, his form and stature giving La Roja and possibly Los Blancos an opportunity to make this issue a footballing one. De Gea should give the situation rationality. Meritocracy.
But all parties still seem unsure how to progress. At Real Madrid, Casillas wants to stay, Navas wants to stay and De Gea wants to come. Real Madrid, through their pursuit of other keepers this summer and last, seem to want to show Casillas the exit without being seen forcing him through it. At the national level, clarity is just as scarce.
"I'm convinced that with my attitude and ability everything will go back to being the way it was before," Casillas told Lowe for the Guardian in November. "That's what we all want. The Madrid fans and me."
But things can't go back. Nothing will ever be the way it was before.
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