I lived dream, insists Casillas after ending his glittering career
FORMER Spain and Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas has announced his retirement from football at the age of 39.
Casillas, who finished his playing days at Porto, won the World Cup and two European Championships during an illustrious international career.
He lifted five La Liga titles and the Champions League three times with Real, making 725 appearances for the Spanish giants over 16 seasons between 1999 and 2015.
“The important thing is the path you travel and the people who accompany you, not the destination that it takes you,” Casillas posted on Instagram alongside a lengthy retirement letter.
“Because that with work and effort comes alone and I think I can say, without hesitation, that it has been the path and the dream destination.”
Casillas won 167 caps for Spain, bettered only by Sergio Ramos, and was captain when they became world champions in 2010 and triumphed at Euro 2008 and Euro 2012.
He sits second on the list of all-time appearances for Real, with only former team-mate Raul having made more.
The keeper also won two Portuguese titles at Porto after leaving the Bernabeu in 2015 but did not play again after suffering a heart attack in training last year.
Real hailed Casillas as the club’s greatest goalkeeper and one of their finest players.
“Real Madrid wants to show its appreciation, admiration and affection for one of the greatest legends of our club and world soccer,” read a statement on the Spanish champions’ website.
“The best goalkeeper in the history of Real Madrid and Spanish football came to our house when he was nine-years-old.
“Iker Casillas belongs to the heart of Real Madrid and will do so forever.
“Real Madrid wants to convey to him and his family the affection of our club, which is the club of his life.”
THE received wisdom two and a half years ago — inside Old Trafford, not just outside — was that if Alexis Sanchez is available, you sign him.
It was not entirely wrong, either. It is easy to forget now, as talks over an expected sale to Inter Milan progress, but Sanchez arrived in Manchester as one of the most devastating attacking players in European football, having broken the 20-goal barrier in three of his last four seasons, hitting 30 for Arsenal in the previous campaign alone.
That a player of his calibre and Premier League pedigree would essentially be available for free — with an unsettled and unwanted Henrikh Mkhitaryan departing in exchange — was viewed as a rare, exceptional opportunity by many at Manchester United. One too good to turn down. One too good to miss.
Of course, the flaw in that reasoning was that there was a club on the other side of town who were more than happy to pass up on Sanchez and they have not looked back since.
Manchester City could be accused of sour grapes at the time, given they suddenly had significant doubts about a player they had come close to signing only five months earlier, but those doubts proved valid.
One of the biggest was Sanchez’s desired salary, the same salary which still hangs like an albatross around United’s neck. The exorbitant figures vary across newspaper reports due to different clauses, incentives and image rights activations.
The most reliable number comes from Football Leaks, who obtained the 49-page contract and revealed his basic Old Trafford wage to be £391,346-a-week during the 2018-19 season following United’s successful qualification for that season’s Champions League.
Whether his weekly pay packet ever reached £500,000 or more through various other add-ons, Sanchez’s performances were never worth such sums.
And his salary — inflated by the absence of a transfer fee — was not the only problem. Sanchez cost United both money and their bargaining position, weakening the club’s hand in negotiations with other key players.
Paul Pogba’s nose was put out of joint and he is still yet to renew terms, despite finally being content enough to stay at Old Trafford for the foreseeable future.
David de Gea is now earning a salary comparable to Sanchez’s, and has another three years left to run on his contract, with his performances and status as United’s first-choice under scrutiny.
It is no secret that Sanchez