Real Madrid and Spain Reaping Rewards of Keeping Faith with Iker Casillas

One of the most capped players in the history of international football, a captain of club and country, a multiple La Liga winner, a World Cup winner and indeed the man who lifted the most recent Champions League trophy, it's a career which transgresses the dreams of many. But it doesn't change the fact that Iker Casillas has been under huge pressure and living with disappointment over the last 24 months or so, losing his place as Real Madrid's No. 1 goalkeeper and seeing his form deteriorate along the way.

Eyebrows were raised when he started the 2014 World Cup as Spain's first choice and even more so when he remained in place for the European Championships qualifiers. At club level, the signing of Keylor Navas—the best keeper in La Liga last season—was also seen as a sign that Casillas' time at Real was to end, only for Carlo Ancelotti to keep faith with him this year.

And so, just maybe, after months and even a couple of years of nosediving form and confidence, Ancelotti and Vicente del Bosque's decisions to keep Casillas in their teams for 2014-15 is being repaid in the best way possible: with Casillas returning to much better form of late.

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We'll not jump overboard at the first signs of improvement; Casillas remains some distance from the commanding, unflappable goalkeeper of some years previous.

At the start of the current campaign, Real's defence was all over the shop: leaking goals, conceding leads and, at the back of it all, Casillas failing to dominate his area, stop routine shots and generally looking as out of place as could be. He wasn't just not being great, Casillas was actively and frequently making errors of judgement, putting his defence under additional pressure and conceding goals he shouldn't have been.

It was little different with Spain; the defeat to Slovakia in the Euro 2016 qualifiers saw two goals let in by Casillas that he very much should have prevented, either proactively or just by the measure of a general ability to stop shots.

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But, a change ensued at club level.

It didn't immediately stem from Casillas himself but from the manager—and like so many of his team-mates, Casillas has in turn been a big beneficiary of the switch. Real Madrid moved to a 4-4-2 as Ancelotti tried to incorporate all his top attacking talents and yet maintain a semblance of solidity in midfield and defence.

It had the desired effect: The Luka Modric-Toni Kroos partnership gives plenty of ammunition in attack, and both remain positionally responsible.

The back four are better protected, and the team plays further up the field. While the attackers are in such devastating form, opponents are reluctant to commit players forward too often, giving Real a better outlook in defence.

Real are now on a 13-match winning streak. In that time, they have kept six clean sheets.

A natural consequence of this improvement and the good results is the increase in confidence and, in turn, performances from Casillas. Individual errors haven't been seen with such alarming frequency. His distribution is generally good, and importantly, he has made a handful of good saves in recent matches. The recent game against Granada was a good case in point: Real played well, won comfortably but conceded a few silly shooting opportunities.

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Casillas stood up to those moments well when he was called upon, and the clean sheet followed.

And so to the latest international break.

Spain beat Belarus 3-0 in their Euro 2016 qualifier before losing 1-0 to Germany in a friendly. By the time the winning goal was scored in the latter match, though, Casillas was already off the pitch, an 80-minute clean sheet under his belt in another match which was generally quiet, interspersed with a few routine but confident saves.

His replacement, Kiko Casilla, made his debut when entering the pitch—and made one uncertain stop and conceded one sloppy goal soon after. Of course, it was a difficult pitch and a nervy occasion, but the sheer difference in posture and confidence between the two stoppers was easy to see. It would almost have been the other way around a few months back.

Casillas, though, continues his improvement. It's a long road back all the way to where he was before, and it's fair to assume he might never reach those heights again.

But Casillas is certainly far better off than he was and showing much better consistency now. More games, for club and country, could well continue that technical improvement, but more important might be the rebuilding of his mental strength, backed by both managers, to ensure that the next mistake is no longer automatically followed by another.

Real and Spain have both taken small rewards from backing Casillas so far. For the club side, at least, far greater rewards could yet be ahead over the coming months as a result.

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