Casillas from Real Madrid to Porto

[sunilvk7]

It's officially done and this thread is not about the transfer but how he was treated by Madrid during his tenure.


They are the biggest and most glamorous club but when you see how their Legend who has been there for 25 years was treated, it's just begs the question, why players are so desperate to join them. Ozil, Di Maria, Ramos also suffered similar fate with Madrid friendly media but what Casillas experienced was worse.


His send off was a complete non event. No single player, no Perez or even a single director in the room. Just journalists who just sat there and listened to his farewell speech.


Sid Lowe's take on the matter.

Perhaps the best demonstration of that was this: there was something telling and uncomfortably fitting about the way it ended. On a Sunday morning, in an empty stadium, no trophies, no videos, no embrace. Nobody, in fact.


Casillas has played 725 games for Madrid and has won every trophy there is: winner of three European Cups and five league titles, as well as two European Championships and the World Cup with Spain. The club captain, he has been there for quarter of a century and had intended to be there his entire life. But Madrid did not want him and did not wave him off. He came in on his own, sat on his own and left on his own. His former team-mates were on a plane to Australia, president Florentino Pérez was not present and no director accompanied him. There were none even in the room. There were no fans in the stadium, either, although a few had gathered outside.

No fanfare for Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas as he leaves for Porto | Football | The Guardian


Whatever was the issue, it was such a sad ending for him. Compare that with Xavi, Gerrard's send offs, it's such a poor reflection on the club. Deserved much better IMO.