Football News: End Of An Era At Real Madrid

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The end of Iker Casillas's time at Real Madrid has, for me, been little short of embarrassing. A player that should have gone years ago, as he was never top class, and has shown in recent years he is not even average any more, but stayed because of the power he wielded behind the scenes. Along with Sergio Ramos and, in the past, Raul, he was the head of the Spanish group of players that constantly caused issues.

It was him and Ramos that worked together to get Jose Mourinho removed, so it is difficult to have any sympathy for him now being pushed out of the door while crying crocodile tears. Yes, I am sorry if I am being cynical, but I have as much faith in those tears being real as I do in believing Lance Armstrong was innocent. It is not often I can support the actions of Florentino Perez, but in this instance he was right to get rid.

The only criticism I have is that it took so long, when Casillas should have been moved on a long time ago. Even last summer, with the arrival of Kaylor Navas, there was an opportunity to remove him. If Madrid had done so, and spent the season with Navas as first choice, they might have won the title last season.

It has always astounded me how highly rated Casillas is, when the only times he has ever been tested he has been found wanting. In the early days it was put down to him being young and inexperienced that he made mistakes. The flaps were understandable and it was not like he was really having to do much playing in goal for Madrid and Spain.

Over time those flaps have become more obvious, in the 2010 World Cup I personally felt a truly world class keeper would have stopped pretty much every goal Spain conceded on their way to lifting the trophy. His deficiencies led to him being benched by Mourinho, and that was really the beginning of the end for him with Madrid. Since then Casillas has been a shadow of the player he was, from a decent, not great, keeper, to a goalie that looks like an amateur.

His performance in the 2014 World Cup, and at times through last season, were nothing short of awful. Yet still the Madridistas worship him and are genuinely upset to see him go. It is difficult to understand why. Surely it is obvious to all that he should go now and that David De Gea is a far better goalkeeper.

At least his parents inability to see how lacking he is can be understood, even if the insults towards Porto were uncalled for, they can be fully excused for hitting out at the club for pushing their precious boy out of the door. It is difficult to see how, if he loves the club so much, he fails to see that he is nowhere near good enough and needs to be replaced for the good of the club?

Written by Tris Burke July 13 2015 13:01:50