IKER MISTAKE COULD USHER IN A NEW AGE
DAVID DE GEA tends to watch big Champions League games with his Spanish Manchester United team-mates Juan Mata and Ander Hererra. The three amigos are neighbours in the same close. Last night, as their old Spain Under-21 team-mate Alvaro Morata turned in the opener, de Gea’s thoughts will have turned to Real Madrid and his future once again. It was Iker Casillas failing to hold Carlos Tevez’s shot which allowed it to run to the back post, where Morata stole in to put Juventus in front. Madrid want de Gea to be Casillas’ long-term replacement and many supporters want the ‘longterm’ plan to be put in place sooner, rather than later. It was not Casillas’ worst mistake. Marcelo and Raphael Varane had allowed Tevez far too much space, and Pepe could have done more than raise his hand as Morata scored. But the Casillas of old would not have let the ball pass. The veteran of 54 Champions League knockout games wants to stay at Madrid until his contract ends in 2017, when the goalkeeper who has won everything in the game will be 35. He is determined to see it out and this season he has comfortably seen off the challenge of Keylor Navas, who was brought in last summer after an outstanding World Cup with Costa Rica. But Casillas has spent more consecutive years at Madrid than anyone else at the club — including the president, Florentino Perez. One of the attractions for Perez in signing de Gea is that it will be more difficult for Casillas’ supporters to argue against the veteran being dropped if it is in favour of the man most likely to wear Spain’s No 1 shirt for the next decade. Casillas is still capable of brilliant saves but, where once his side won because of their goalkeeper, they have started to win in spite of him, as was the case in last season’s Champions League Final. If they fail to reach Berlin in June, the resolve to bring de Gea in this summer will only be strengthened.