The former Real Madrid goalkeeper chalked up yet another milestone as La Roja beat England 2-0 in Alicante on Friday - and now he has another major record in his sights

By Ben Hayward

Spain skipper Iker Casillas made it 100 clean sheets at international level as he shut out England in his side's 2-0 win in Alicante on Friday night.Casillas drew level with Spain's all-time record appearance holder Andoni Zubizarreta on 126 caps in a game against England back in November 2011 and started this one to feature for the 165th time for La Roja.That mark sees him draw level with former Latvia midfielder Vitalijs Astafjevs on the most caps won by a European player, with the Porto goalkeeper now set to move clear of that tally in the coming months.And against England again on Friday he made it 100 clean sheets for Spain (a feat never before achieved at international level) in what was a largely quiet evening for the experienced shot-stopper.Apart from one smart save from Harry Kane right at the end, it was comfortable enough for Casillas, who captained Spain to back-to-back European Championships in 2008 and 2012 as well as the World Cup in 2010.

The 34-year-old is still being backed by coach Vicente del Bosque and will now hope to lead Spain to glory again at Euro 2016 in France next year.



And if he remains in favour, the three-time Champions League winner will almost certainly become the all-time leading appearance holder in international footballer - a record currently held by former Egypt midfielder Ahmed Hassan (who won 184 caps between 1995 and 2012).

"Iker should be proud, extremely proud, of what he has achieved,” Del Bosque said before the match against England. "If it wasn’t for us, he may have already beaten Hassan's record, but it has been healthy to give games to [Pepe] Reina, [Victor] Valdes and now to [David] De Gea.



"Great players have to be more generous with the ones who play less and Iker is generous."



