Iker ‘proud’ to be in CL final

Real Madrid goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas has spoken of his pride at reaching another Champions League final with Los Blancos.

AS reports Casillas as praising Madrid’s opponents, Atletico Madrid, and predicting a difficult game as Carlo Ancelotti’s side go in search of La Decima.

“After all we’ve been through I’m proud to be here and have the opportunity for another European Cup,” Casillas said.

“Atletico have been playing brilliantly and will be difficult.

“Along with [David] De Gea, [Thibaut] Courtois is the most promising goalkeeper. He’s a great goalkeeper and a great person.

“Hopefully it all goes well for him but so fine [on Saturday].”

Casillas also spoke of the pain of reaching the semi-finals and no further in recent seasons, having won the Champions League twice before but not since 2002.

“It’s hard to reach the semi-finals three times and not play the final,” he admitted.

“Now the dream is to win the Champions League. There is the will and the courage to win this beautiful game.

“I don’t know if experience helps. There are players with many games behind them but the final is a different game.

“We must enjoy it and be concentrated from the beginning.

“This is the history of this club. If we win and make it 10 Cups then that’s amazing. It’s the effort of many people.

“There is a growing desire to play a final of this type. Sometimes you don’t value what you’ve got.

“This time we’re here after 12 years and it’s why we value it so much. Behind us all is hard work well done.

“The team was able to win and we knew how to suffer. We deserve to be in this final.

“You don’t value it as much at 19 or 21. When you play so long without a final you savour it more.

“If you win the memory is infinite but I’ve played many finals and the biggest thing is that it’s a privilege to bring happiness to so many people.”

Tags Champions League Final Iker Casillas
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