Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas has a special relationship with the European Cup... Atletico, you have been warned



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.



Youthful: Iker Casillas is his early days for Real Madrid, having always had an affinity with 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.

Scissored: Casillas cut the arms of his shirt when coming on in the 2002 Champions League final in Glasgow

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.

Embrace: Casillas - on the night 'San Iker' was born - cheers with match-winning legend Zinedine Zidane

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.

A little footnote to this gathering love affair between the cup with the big ears and the young goalkeeper is that, while his full debut for Madrid in Bilbao comes that season, it is not until later, when Bizzarri is sent off in losing 3-1 at home to Atletico in the Madrid derby, that he becomes the starting No1 for Los Blancos.

The 18-year-old comes on in that match with the score already 3-1 to Los Rojiblancos, doesn’t concede another goal before the whistle — and still has not lost another game against them from that day, October 30, 1999, until this.

Then, the coup de grace. Although Casillas and del Bosque have been fantastic for each other, they aren’t umbilically linked.

Madrid’s manager feels his young star has let standards slip a little bit and, midway through the 2001/02 season, he drops him and places Cesar in goal.

Making his point: Casillas has resumed his rightful place between the posts for Real's Champions League campaign

It is the sorest thing which has yet happened to Casillas and, while he does not sulk, he is completely unprepared on the bench at Hampden during the 2002 Champions League Final against Bayer Leverkusen, when Cesar gets injured and has to come off.

Had it not been for his string of saves late in the match, which give Madrid their ninth European Cup, the abiding image would have been of him hacking the sleeves off a goalkeeper’s shirt (he simply refused to play long-sleeved) with scissors because he’s not ready.

Having kept the Germans at bay, Casillas sinks to his knees and weeps when the final whistle is blown. San Iker is born.

‘So many things provoked those tears; a mixture of emotions — anger, sadness, delight, redemption, the works,’ he would later tell Sid Lowe.

‘I’d say that I cried more out of anger and relief than happiness. We’d just won the European Cup but I cared more about the months without playing.

‘That really, really hurt me. In the long run it helped me a lot; I was out for months and really analysed things. That made me stronger, it gave me more character.

‘It’s hard when things seem to be going so well, you think everything’s fine and then, suddenly, you’re out of the team.’

And he has been through so much over the last year, too — dropped, unfairly, by Jose Mourinho; kept out of the league side by Diego Lopez’s form; rewarded for his professionalism with this tournament, the one which calls to him, by Carlo Ancelotti.

Now he and Madrid are in the Lisbon final next Saturday.

Atletico, you have been warned. Everyone knows what happens next — Iker wins the European Cup.

Through his paces: Casillas, warming up, will line up for Real in Saturday's final against rivals Atletico