Del Bosque on the communication gap that kept Casillas out

Former Spain head coach Vicente del Bosque admitted for the first time that there had been a lack of communication with one of the key players in his squad. That player was Iker Casillas, who got on well with his teammates but not with the coaching staff. Casillas’s attitude had changed from the moment he was told he would be second choice in goal.

After Spain were knocked out of Euro 2016, del Bosque reportedly sent messages to all of his players except Casillas. It was a sad ending, because del Bosque and Casillas had been at the heart of Spain’s greatest international successes. The former Real Madrid goalkeeper captained the team when Spain won the European Championship twice and the World Cup in 2010.

Casillas did have a chance to play in Spain’s last group game, against Croatia. Fitness coach Javier Miñano asked him whether he felt fine and was ready to play. Frustrated by his lack of playing time, Casillas was angered by the question and simply waved his hand.

With del Bosque no longer in charge of Spain, Casillas might yet get another chance to play for his country. The goalkeeper was Spain’s most capped player, with 167 matches for La Furia Roja.

Iker Casillas has won everything in football. He won La Liga five times with Real Madrid and the Champions League three times, as well as the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. With Spain he lifted the European Championship twice and the World Cup once, in 2010.

Casillas was admittedly not in the form of his life, but as a very experienced player he could have helped his team perform better at Euro 2016. He was reportedly about to leave his club Porto after inconsistent performances at the end of the season, in which Porto finished without a trophy.

Iker Casillas had proved himself a world-class goalkeeper and did not deserve the treatment he received from del Bosque with Spain, or from José Mourinho at Real Madrid a few years earlier. Precisely because his character is so strong, a comeback stronger than ever looked entirely possible.

Spain’s Euro 2016 without Casillas

David de Gea started all of Spain’s matches in France. The holders opened Group D with a 1-0 win over the Czech Republic on 13 June and beat Turkey 3-0 four days later, but a 2-1 defeat by Croatia on 21 June, the game for which Casillas had been asked whether he was ready, left them second in the group. That set up a round-of-16 meeting with Italy at the Stade de France on 27 June, which Italy won 2-0 with goals from Giorgio Chiellini in the 33rd minute and Graziano Pellè in stoppage time.

Spain after del Bosque

The international comeback never came. Del Bosque retired after the tournament, and on 21 July 2016 Julen Lopetegui was appointed as his successor. Casillas did not play for his country again: his 167th and final cap had come on 1 June 2016 in a 6-1 friendly win over South Korea in Salzburg, shortly before the finals. Lopetegui later left him out of the squad for the 2018 World Cup, announced on 21 May 2018.

The Porto years and retirement

Casillas had joined Porto on 11 July 2015 after leaving Real Madrid, where he made 725 appearances in all competitions, 510 of them in La Liga, and won the Zamora Trophy in 2007–08. Despite the reports that he might leave, he stayed in Portugal and won the 2017–18 Primeira Liga and the 2018 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira with Porto, adding a domestic league title in a second country to his long list of honours.

On 1 May 2019 he suffered a heart attack, and he did not play competitively again. He announced his retirement from football on 4 August 2020, closing a career in which he had been one of the most decorated goalkeepers of his generation.