Having won it three times in an already illustrious career, the goalkeeper has sent a message to those who feel his time at the Santiago Bernabeu may be coming to an endfollowing recent criticism.
“I think I can play on until I’m 40. I started here and I want to finish here,” said Casillas in an interview with the Daily Mail.
Casillas was just 16 years old when he was selected to sit on the bench for Madrid in a Champions League game with Rosenborg back in November 1997, a day he remembers well.
“They took me out of school because Bodo Illgner and Santi Canizares were both injured and theyneeded me as reserve ‘keeper.
“I was taken to the headmaster, who was a Real Madrid fan, and before I knew it I was on my way home, where my mother was frantically packing my bag.
“The other kids had no idea why I’d left class and there was no Twitter or mobile phones around then to tell them what was happening.”
In the event, Canizares was fit to play and Casillas was only third choice, although boss Jupp Heynckes ordered him to get change and take his place among the substitutes.
“I knew who they all were but nobody had a clue who I was. Before the game I sat at the same table as Canizares and Fernando Morientes but I never said a word,” he admitted.
