Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that Iker Casillas will play in goal for Real Madrid against Manchester United and in the European Super Cup.
Los Blancos are in the process of forcing out either Casillas or Diego Lopez following the arrival of Keylor Navas.
And the Italian tactician has perhaps hinted at a decision, with the announcement that the Spain international will be in goal against the Premier League outfit in Michigan tonight, and for the match with Sevilla in Cardiff later this month.
“Casillas will play [against Manchester United] because he will play the Super Cup final,” he told a Press conference.
“Lopez looks well, as he always does. He has been working well – he is very professional, as everyone already knows.
“I spoke to the club today and there is no news regarding players leaving. Diego is a Real Madrid player. He won’t play tomorrow because Iker will be playing the Super Cup final.
“Diego will continue working as everyone has faith in him.
“We had a lot of problems last season with all the talk about Diego López and Iker Casillas.
“I don’t like talking about a goalkeeper who is not with us. Right now, our goalkeepers are Iker, Diego and Jesus.”
The Coach then commented on the match with Louis van Gaal’s men this evening in front of a sell-out 109,000 crowd.
“There are no such things as friendlies between Real Madrid and Manchester United – and even less so in a stadium such as this.
“We have to end this tour in the best way possible. We are very proud to be playing this match and we want to put in a good performance before the Super Cup. We need to put in a good game.
“Van Gaal is a very experienced Coach. He has done fantastically well in other countries and he has done a good job with the Dutch national side.
“He doesn’t have to learn anything because he already knows what he’s doing.
“Filling the gap left by Ferguson won’t be easy. The Premier League is very competitive and there are many highly-competitive teams.”
Cristiano Ronaldo’s fitness was an issue at the end of last season, but Ancelotti has insisted that the Portugal international is on the road to recovery.
“He has been doing individual work. We won’t be fielding him tomorrow because he still hasn’t trained with the squad.
“He will rejoin the squad’s sessions when we get back to Madrid so that he will be ready for the Super Cup final.
“Our plan was to make sure he gets a lot of rest. He started training on July 26 – apart from the group so that he could fully recover from his fitness problems.
“The idea is to reintroduce him to the sessions on August 5.”
