Spain’s award-winning goalkeeper Iker Casillas has shown his commitment to the Portuguese club by renewing his contract for another season with an option for a further one.
Very good news for European football. One of the best goalkeepers in its history, Iker Casillas, will continue to wear the gloves for at least one more season. The veteran goalkeeper from Móstoles has reached a quick agreement with FC Porto to extend his contract until 2020, opting for one more season as reflected in the document.
On the occasion of this important event, the Portuguese club, who are in sensational form after qualifying for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, held a simple but emotional event to celebrate. In fact, beyond the traditional handshake between president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa and Iker Casillas, the 37-year-old goalkeeper held a press conference on the impeccable turf of Do Dragao, in which, among other things, he showed his excitement and joy for continuing to be a Dragon. We leave you the interview:
A special day for the goalkeeper
“Today is a special day, a very important day for me, because it means continuing to be linked to a club, a city and a country that has always treated me well. I feel that this club is my home. From the moment this possibility started to be discussed, I had no doubts, because I want to finish my football career here.
Commitment to the club and grateful for the confidence.
“Goalkeepers can normally go further if they are treated well, but my commitment is to the club, to the president and to my teammates, I want to be at one hundred per cent to help the club achieve great things. I have to thank them for their confidence, because it is not easy to bet on someone at 38 years of age. I want to stay here until the end of my career as a footballer”.
The match that has marked him the most was at the Estadio da Luz.
“For example, last year, getting the victory in the 90th minute that brought you close to the national title was very exciting, in Lisbon. I think it was the game I liked the most, because of the way it happened.
The difficulty of the first year
“I arrived here when I was 34 years old and everyone thought it would be for one or two more years. The first year was hard, because you have to adapt to a different football and a different country, but after I got here, I have to emphasise the calm and the affection. My family and I have been treated well from the very first moment”.
Fighting for three titles until the end of the season
“Our idea is to compete for the three remaining titles. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to win the League Cup, right now we are focused on the championship and we are also looking forward to reaching the final of the Portuguese Cup. In the Champions League we all have expectations. Anything can happen.
Keeping the link to football
“With this contract renewal, I will finish my career here, I will represent the club and all the players. Two years ago, I thought that at 38 I would be at my last moment, now we are talking about being linked to the club until I am 40. In the future, I hope to always be linked to football”.
The tie with Liverpool in the Champions League
“There is still some time to go before the play-off with Liverpool, but we will go in with the idea that we are going to get through the play-offs. That has to be the mentality. There are no small or big teams here, nor do we look at what happened last season. We respect Liverpool and the rest of the clubs also respect FC Porto. The most important thing for us is the championship, which we want to win again, it’s our main objective. When the time comes for the Champions League, I am sure we will do our best to go forward in the play-offs”.
For his part, Pinto da Costa did not want to miss the opportunity to praise Casillas. “Iker Casillas is a world figure, and he is also a figure at FC Porto. Today, the name Casillas is already associated with FC Porto and FC Porto with Casillas”. This was one of the main phrases of the president, who also highlighted details such as “We renewed the contract for one year, with another one as an option, always conditioned, by his decision, to his effective presence in the goal. I am convinced, as I have already told him, that this will not be the last contract we are signing. It’s up to him and I think that will be a reality. I am very happy to know that he loves this club, that he loves the city of Porto, the city that represents the North and that in football represents the country”.
Precisely these reasons highlighted by Pinto da Costa coincide with those provided when justifying the renewal of its Official Football School in Spain: FC Porto Dragon Force Valencia-Enguera. In fact, the great work carried out by Soccer Inter-Action and the professionals appointed by the Portuguese club has brought the aforementioned Soccer School success very quickly. In the two seasons that FC Porto and Soccer Inter-Action have been working together, they have achieved consecutive promotions with their ‘top’ teams, something that suggests that sooner rather than later their teams will be in the elite of the leagues of the Valencian Community.
Moreover, Iker Casillas himself is closely following the evolution of this Official School of Football in Spain. The goalkeeper, a legend of Real Madrid and of the best Spanish National Team in history, does not miss the opportunity to learn about the evolution of the young Dragons that make up Dragon Force Valencia. In fact, the goalkeeper is one of the regulars when it comes to offering to meet the players of the School of Football who travel to Porto to train with the club and learn all the secrets of the entity. The latest case has been that of the pre-benjamin goalkeeper Eric and the benjamin brothers Hugo and Jordi.
Beyond the figure of Iker Casillas, the importance that both FC Porto and Soccer Inter-Action give to the work of goalkeepers is vital. It is for this reason that there is such a wide range of specific activities for goalkeepers, with the Football Camps and Football Clinics being the programmes that stand out. In the case of Soccer Inter-Action, it is worth mentioning its Easter Goalkeeping Camp, which takes place from 22 to 27 April at the Soccer Inter-Action High Performance Centre. This Soccer Campus in Spain will join the list of successfully completed SIA programmes. Other Camps that have stood out at Soccer Inter-Action in terms of specialising in goalkeeping skills have been the summer camps, where the participants also shared time, space and advice on the pitch with the FC Porto B players, who spent part of their pre-season at SIA’s sports facilities in Enguera, Valencia (Spain).
Get to know the story of ‘San Iker’.
There is no doubt that the name Iker Casillas is linked to Real Madrid. Born in Móstoles on 20 May 1981, Iker Casillas Fernández was a member of the club from a very young age. Trained in the youth academy of the Spanish capital club, the goalkeeper did not take long to make a place for himself in the first team. In September 1999, he made his official debut for Real Madrid at the always impressive San Mamés stadium, facing a ferocious Athletic Club de Bilbao attack (2-2). In the same season Casillas made an absolute splash by playing in the Champions League Final and eventually winning it, as Real Madrid defeated Valencia CF 3-0. This incredible success earned him the title of best young player in Europe. From that performance that year, Casillas’ career took off to a level that is difficult even for a player to dream of: 5 Spanish League titles, 2 King’s Cups, 4 Spanish Super Cups, 3 Champions League titles, 2 European Super Cups, 2 Intercontinental Cups and 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
His success at Real Madrid went further thanks to the best generation of players that Spanish football has had in its history. The Spanish national team, led by Iker Casillas, broke with the ghosts of the past to lift 2 European Championships and 1 World Cup. All this conquered and, given his performances defending the goal during all this time, gives reason to those who, even before he retires, are already praising him as the best goalkeeper in the history of Spanish football.
However, before anyone contradicts the last statement, Iker Casillas’ career did not end in 2015 when he left Real Madrid, but he signed for FC Porto to prove that he still had a lot to say. The long shadow of ‘San Iker’ – as the Spanish press called him due to his extraordinary saves – has been growing bigger and bigger in the city of Porto since that summer of 2015 when he signed alongside president Pinto da Costa. Now, four years later, the signing of Casillas by FC Porto has been a real success for everyone, both from the point of view of the club and the goalkeeper, who in recent days has even claimed a place in the squad of ‘La Roja’.
Defending the Do Dragao goal, the Móstoles-born goalkeeper has won a league title and a Portuguese Super Cup and this season he is still alive in the most demanding competition in the world at club level: the UEFA Champions League. San Iker’s saves throughout the tournament have made him one of eight first-choice goalkeepers still in contention to lift the coveted trophy. His next opponents will be the dreaded Liverpool, where Casillas will have to face the likes of Salah, Firmino and Mané.
