When Jose Mourinho went to war with his captain Iker Casillas in 2012 and dropped him from Real Madrid’s first team after he had been their No 1 goalkeeper for 12 seasons, nobody could have foreseen the ramifications which continue to this day.
Casillas was Real Madrid’s most popular player, a local boy and captain of club and country. Known in Iberia as “Saint Iker”, the goalkeeper of the national team dominated European and world football.
Madrid’s goalkeeping issue, for so long as stable and settled as any club could hope, started to spin into uncertainty. Mourinho replaced Casillas with Diego Lopez. He performed well enough to be considered Madrid’s No 1, not only by Mourinho but his successor, Carlo Ancelotti, but was still on a contract which reflected his status as a No 2.
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– Manchester United and Real Madrid begin pre-emptive strikes in De Gea blame game
Last year he left for AC Milan, penning an emotional letter of thanks to fans and just about everyone else at the Bernabeu with the exception of president Florentino Perez.
Antonio Adan, whom Mourinho rated publicly as being “better” than Casillas, was locally born and had represented Spain at every level up to Under 21. Given his opportunity, he was then hammered for two poor performances and was even sent off in one. He moved to Italian side Cagliari in 2013, accusing Mourinho of putting him under excessive pressure. He is now back in the Primera Liga with Real Betis.
In 2014, Costa Rica international Keylor Navas was brought in to be Madrid’s No 1 custodian, depending on whom you believe. He ended up being Casillas’s understudy in league games. Jesus Fernandez, another Madrid-born keeper who had twice played for the first team, also left the club, joining Levante.
Casillas got his No 1 status back but felt hung out to dry and not protected by the club when fans turned on him after some poor performances. Though those same fans later showed their appreciation, he knew that Madrid wanted David de Gea and left for Porto in July amid tearful, unedifying scenes after 16 years at the club. He had just turned 34, relatively young for a goalkeeper. He was Madrid’s second-highest earner.
Fernando Pacheco, another highly-rated player who rose through Madrid’s youth ranks, was sold to second-division Alaves in the summer, while former Madrid B team stopper Kiko Casilla was brought from Espanyol. He excelled last season and earned his first Spanish cap, though he had an inauspicious debut. He joined a club having no firm idea whether he would be first, second or even third choice.
Navas, a star of the 2014 World Cup with Costa Rica, started this season as No 1. He is popular in the dressing room and with fans. He has not conceded a goal this season and saved a penalty in Saturday’s 5-0 hammering of Betis.
Madrid fans are content for him to be first choice this season, with more than 80 per cent them saying in a poll over the summer they preferred him to former Atletico Madrid man De Gea, at least for this season.
Perez did not agree and pushed to sign De Gea from Manchester United, though Madrid did not make an official bid until the final day of the transfer window, and included Navas in the deal.
It ended in farce as the paperwork was not completed in time. Both sides briefed various media with their side of the story, with each blaming the other.
According to those close to the player, De Gea maintains that he would have signed a contract offered by United in 2014 but the offer was rescinded by Louis van Gaal, who wanted time to assess all his players.
De Gea had long wanted to join Madrid and it looked like he would get his wish, only for he and Navas to be left in limbo at the last minute.
No club has bought and sold as many goalkeepers as Madrid during the past two years, yet their goalkeeping situation is still unclear.
Thomas Vermaelen finding his feet again at Camp Nou
Barcelona’s signing of Thomas Vermaelen from Arsenal was widely ridiculed. The Belgian was injured when he joined in August 2014 and remained injured.
In November 2014, it was announced that he would be out until May 2015 with a serious thigh muscle injury, marking a woeful first season for the Belgian international. He spent the rest of the season working with a Finnish doctor who specialises in muscle injuries.
Andoni Zubizarreta, the sporting director who oversaw the signing, was accused of negligence because he had said Vermaelen was “immediately available”, and it was a factor in his dismissal in January 2015.
Yet Zubizarreta rightly felt that Barca’s defence needed cover, especially knowing that they would not be able to sign any players in 2015. The fee, €10 million (Dh41.3m), plus a further €9m in variables which will only be triggered if Barca win two Uefa Champions League trophies before 2019, also showed Barca’s caution given his injury record.
Vermaelen, 29, recuperated and made it back for a final few minutes in Barca’s last league game of the season, when they had already won the title.
Fit and ready to go in preseason, Vermaelen impressed with his strength and positioning in training, though he showed little of that in the 4-0 Spanish Super Cup defeat to Athletic Bilbao.
Manager Luis Enrique was impressed by him and with Gerard Pique suspended for Barca’s first four league games, Vermaelen was a surprise selection ahead of Marc Bartra in Barca’s first league game at Bilbao.
He played alongside Javier Mascherano and, on Sunday, was the best defender in a 1-0 win, as he was in another 1-0 win against a Malaga side who had drawn 0-0 and won 1-0 in Camp Nou last term.
Barca looked like they were heading for a goalless draw against an obstinate, energetic and highly organised Malaga side until Vermaelen’s 72nd-minute half volley settled the game. The Belgian did not celebrate and looked stunned at his own achievement, but the 80,000 crowd on a hot August night did.
They consider him to be like a new signing in a year when Barca are barred from fielding any. Rather than spending international weeks at an empty training ground as he did last season, or on a flight to Finland to see his doctor, Vermaelen returns to play for Belgium 14 months after playing for them in the World Cup finals.
He will be a key player as they seek to qualify for Euro 2016. Barca hope he will be a key defender for them this term, and he has started well.
Eibar continue to live with the big boys
Eibar continued the winning start which we wrote about last week and remain La Liga leaders after beating their neighbours Athletic 2-0. The Basque country's biggest club have now lost their opening two games and have yet to score.
The league has an especially unfamiliar – or early season – look with Celta Vigo also at the top with two wins from two. The Galicians beat Rayo Vallecano 3-0 with former Barcelona players Nolito (2) and Fontas getting the goals.
Atletico Madrid and Barcelona are the two other teams with a 100 per cent record, the 2014 champions especially impressive in a 3-0 win at Sevilla, who had seen 10,000 fans welcome new signing Fernando Llorente from Juventus three days previous.
Stalwarts (and Atletico fans) Koke and Gabi scored before new signing Jackson Martinez got his first goal for his new club.
Player of the week – Roberto Soldado
Though popular with fans, Roberto Soldado scored just seven goals in two years at Tottenham Hotspur. He returned to Spain with Villarreal determined to prove he was international class and get back in the Spain reckoning. He has a goal in each of his first two games, plus an assist in Friday’s 3-1 win against Espanyol. So far, so good for the former Valencia player.
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