Casilla: No Catalan ban

Kiko Casilla denies Real Madrid prevented him giving a television interview in Catalan. ‘They know where I’m from…’

Casilla is a native of Tarragona, in Catalonia, and it was reported after Madrid beat Valencia, where Casilla deputised for Keylor Navas, that he’d been stopped from speaking to reporters in his local tongue.

“Madrid have never forbidden me or banned me from speaking Catalan. They know where I’m from. The protocol in the mixed zone is Castilian first, with the national media, and then if someone else wants to speak in another language, then that’s separate,” the goalkeeper clarified, AS reports.

“[TV3] wanted to skip some of the protocol and all that was said was Castilian first, with Spanish television. Madrid have never said I couldn’t respond in Catalan.”