Saint Iker has been a prophet of Real’s European success
ONE way or another, this trophy — the one with the ‘big ears’ — has always called to Iker Casillas. The first call was, in fact, a phonecall. Sitting studying in a particularly dry maths class at his Cañaveral de Móstoles secondary school on January 24 1997, the 16-year-old Casillas was more than surprised to be hauled to the headmaster’s office.
Surprise became rigid shock when it emerged that, because of injuries, Jupp Heynckes had called him up for Real Madrid’s trip to play Rosenborg away in the Champions League.
The headmaster had been phoned to seek permission for this kid to be excused lessons — and thanks to the ‘yes!’ from the Merengue-supporting ‘Profesor’, Casillas was about to begin a lesson of a quite different kind.
On the flight to Norway were Fernando Hierro, Raul, Fernando Morientes, Fernando Redondo, Manolo Sanchis, Clarence Seedorf and the likes ... plus this nervous young kid who, had he played, would have become the youngest debutant in the competition’s history.
He didn’t (Madrid losing 2-0 partly thanks to a goal from a soon-to-be Celtic striker Harald Brattbakk), but the intoxicating excitement of being that close to the ongoing holy grail quest intensified Casillas’ desire to triumph at the club he’s always supported.
On that same 1997 flight to Trondheim were men who had dedicated their entire careers to try to return Madrid to the summit of Europe — and only two who had even been born (Chendo and Sanchis) the last time Los Blancos won the European Cup, back in 1966.
‘It took me years, literally, to stop feeling as if the whole call-up had been some kind of practical joke, it was that unexpected,’ Casillas would say.
‘I’d maybe trained once or twice with the top team but to be on that plane amongst all-time legends of the club was nearly too much for me.’
At that time, the wait for Real to get ‘their’ trophy back was 31 years and counting. Yet Casillas appears on the scene and, within eight months, Heynckes and Madrid dump Juventus 1-0 in Amsterdam and Los Blancos hold the European Cup aloft once more. OK, not convinced? Two seasons later, halfway through the 1999/2000 season, Madrid’s Albanil Bizzarri is injured and John Toshack calls up the 18-year-old Casillas to replace him — his full debut coming against Athletic Bilbao in a 2-2 draw at San Mames.
But they are torrid, torrid times. The Welshman is sacked, some long-time youth coach by the name of Vicente del Bosque is appointed and Iker, not Saint Iker as he’s become, is put in charge at the back.
Within a handful of months of taking over, del Bosque has steered Los Blancos to Paris in search of La Octavo (their eighth Champions cup) in the very city where Madrid last lost a European Cup Final — to the Liverpool of Bob Paisley, Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish.
Of course, they win. Valencia are a magnificent group of players, fated to return once more to the European showpiece just a year later, but they never get going and, just days past his 19th birthday, Casillas has won the Champions League.