Iker Casillas will leave his gloves in the locker room. The legendary goalkeeper of the Spain world champion in 2010 made it official, Tuesday, August 4, 2020, retiring at the age of 39 years, a choice no surprise that after more than a year without playing, following a heart attack. “Today is both one of the most important days and most challenging of my life in sports : time to say goodbye has arrived,” writes porter in a press release published on the social networks.
With 25 titles over the course of his career, including the 2010 world Cup, two Euros (2008, 2012) and three Leagues of champions (2000, 2002, 2014) with Real Madrid, he has embodied the golden age of Spain of football. A heart attack in training in may 2019 had put a sudden stop to his career, after more than 1,000 professional matches, even if it remained formally a member this season of the workforce of FC Porto, winner of the Cup double-Championship in Portugal.
“San Iker”
Four years before this infarction, it is the tears in the eyes that he had left Real Madrid, his club still, to go finish his career in Portugal. “The Real, demands a lot from you. More and more each year “, was he so fatalistic. Despite this retreat into a quasi-anonymity, more than a year after his last game professional, he leaves the stage with a nickname that illustrates his place in the history of Spanish football : “San Iker “, the guardian angel of the club of madrid and la Roja.
Since a long time, as Rafael Nadal in tennis, the brothers Gasol in basketball or Fernando Alonso in motorsport, the legendary doorman of madrid had symbolized Spain triumphant, far from the complex of the past. It has been the indéboulonnable custodian of the club of madrid for a decade, and one of the selection Spanish during its golden period, setting a record of selections (167), since overtaken by his former partner Sergio Ramos (170, in progress). His culture of winning, he has a time planned to wear it off the pitch. In February, he was a candidate for the presidency of the Spanish federation of football (RFEF), before dropping in June due to “the social, economic, and health exceptional” in the country.
