Iker Casillas' Exit from Real Madrid Leaves Behind a Mess of Mixed Emotions

He's going; he's staying; he's going; he's staying; he's going; he's staying; he's going. 

Between Wednesday morning and Friday evening, the news from Madrid oscillated between those two outcomes for goalkeeper Iker Casillas, as the details of his impending move from Real Madrid to Porto were argued over and thrashed out. Marca called it "Iker and Real's 48-hour tug of war." On Saturday, Real Madrid officially announced that Casillas is, in fact, going.

The sticking points had been Casillas' desire to receive a payout covering the remainder of his contract at the Bernabeu that Porto wouldn't cover, an issue that was complicated by the significantly higher tax rate in Portugal compared to that of Spain. But even if those negotiations took 48 hours, the saga has gone on longer than that.

Much longer.

It's gone on all week. All month. All year. Two years. Three. Marca could have called it the "48-month tug of war" and not been that far off. 

Casillas, it feels, has been going, staying, going, staying and going forever. At least figuratively. He's been at the centre of a political war that's become tangled with on-field issues, one involving Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Florentino Perez, Diego Lopez, Keylor Navas and what seems like countless others. Casillas has done everything he can to stay at a club that has done almost everything it can to make him go. A club he's idolised. A club that's idolised him. 

At Real Madrid, he's been called everything from prodigal son, symbol of institutional purity and universally adored saint, to powerful instigator of division, money-grabber and has-been hanging on too long. It couldn't go on like this; it had to end. And now, it looks as though it finally will. 

On Saturday, the morning after the agreements had been drawn up for his move to Porto, Casillas arrived at Real Madrid's training base in Valdebebas at 10:27 a.m., according to AS. The rest of the squad had started training an hour earlier.

Even without the deal complete, Real Madrid were moving on. 

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

What's left behind is a mess of emotions, each conflicting with the others and pulling your heart and mind in different ways as you try to decide how you feel about Casillas' walk toward the exit. Is it sadness? Frustration? Anger? Disillusion? 

Relief? 

In one way, fans will turn to their long-held affection for a player who isn't just a part of Real Madrid; he practically is Real Madrid. The 34-year-old has been at the club for 25 years, since he was nine, and it's bordering on two decades since he was plucked out of a technical design class at 16 and sent to Norway to join Real Madrid's senior squad for a Champions League clash with Rosenborg. That was in 1997. Forget "La Decima," that game pre-dates "La Septima"—Casillas' career connects four European titles. 

In that time, he's collected 18 major trophies at Real Madrid, has risen to second on the club's all-time appearance list, stands behind only Barcelona great Xavi for Champions League appearances and has carried a name and a reputation few others can match. The simple fact he's nicknamed "San Iker" says it all; most footballers could only ever dream about being called a saint. 

It's what has made this saga dating back to Mourinho's tenure so complex. As the gloveman's form has slowly fallen away and divisions opened up around him, the image of what he has been has stood strong, blurring lines, distorting realities and complicating typically straightforward decisions. 

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

Nowhere has that division been more evident than at the Bernabeu, a venue once united in reverence for Casillas that has grown to cheer and whistle at him in equal measure. Like the club's global fanbase, the arena in Chamartin has had its allegiances tested, unsure of whether to stay loyal to a fading star or loyal to a club that can't truly move on until that fading star departs. 

It's in that sense where fans return to mantras such as "no one is bigger than the club," but then find themselves fighting such a notion because a club is nothing without its iconic, time-honoured figures who've embodied its essence. Again, the emotions conflict. There's no rationality in this. The vicious divide surrounding Casillas confuses everything further. 

"The hatred of those who attack him can be baffling and malevolent; the fanaticism of those who defend him is sometimes absurd, comic even," ESPN FC's Sid Lowe wrote last month.

"Virtually nothing Casillas does is treated normally anymore."

It's true. Sad. 

Naturally, Casillas' supporters have been both vocal and influential—Xavi, Vicente del Bosque, Gianluigi Buffon, Koke, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Mateos and Pepe are among them. But that they've needed to do so doesn't sit well. Nor do the whistles at the Bernabeu. Nor does Casillas' forced exit with two years remaining on a contract. But then nor would watching this whole thing continue, witnessing reality grow even more detached from the idealism.

"It's reached the point where many can't help feeling that they just want it over, and there's something sad in that," Lowe wrote.

That sums it up. It's relief mixed together with a cocktail of other emotions that aren't easily separated. Some will lean toward anger. Others will hold onto sadness. And there'll be those totally unsure. 

But there is one certainty: Casillas is going.

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