In all of Real Madrid’s long, glorious history, few players have attained the kind of iconic status enjoyed by Iker Casillas in the Spanish capital.

A Madridista since the age of nine years old, Casillas has made 654 appearances for the Spanish giants, winning five La Liga titles, two Champions Leagues and one Copa del Rey in a career that has seen him become a rare constant.

The era of Zidanes y Pavones has come and gone, Galacticos have been ushered in and out of the club’s Valdebebas training ground and too many presidents and coaches to count have fallen by the wayside since Casillas made his first-team debut in the 1999-2000 season.
However, a report in Catalan paper Sport claims this morning that the unthinkable could happen – Casillas could be a target for Madrid’s deadly rivals Barcelona.

Casillas’s future at Madrid first looked shaky last season when he fell out with Jose Mourinho and spent much of the season on the bench, with Diego Lopez taking his place in a move that was interpreted as a classic Mourinho power play.

Carlo Ancelotti’s appointment was expected to herald a return to first-team duties for Madrid’s most senior player, yet at the weekend Casillas found himself on the bench once again for a 2-1 win over Real Betis at the Bernabeu.
There are suggestions that Casillas was reluctant to take part in the pre-match warm-up having found himself benched once again and Spanish media are now speculating that Barca president Sandro Rosell has instigated meetings to explore whether to recruit Casillas to replace Victor Valdes, who leaves Camp Nou at the end of the season.

Spain’s most capped player of all time has always been a close friend to Xavi having come through the national team’s youth ranks together but a move from Spain’s capital to Catalunya’s heartland would surely be unthinkable, wouldn’t it?

We asked our Spanish office for their perspective on what would be one of the most explosive transfers of all time – even more unexpected than Luis Figo’s move the opposite way in 2000 when he joined Real Madrid for a world record fee of £37 million, and with an even greater sense of betrayal than when Spain midfielder Luis Enrique left Real for Barca in 1996.

Ignacio Ruiz, Eurosport Spain:

The city of Madrid and Real Madrid means everything to Casillas. If he ever leaves, then he would never go to Barca. Nobody thinks he will leave Real Madrid now because his partner Sara Carbonero is pregnant and the club is so special for him.

Ancelotti explained on Sunday that he had a talk with Iker to explain the decision he took and the coach also said the decision was taken only for the Betis game and that we will see for the rest of the season. But it was a surprise for everyone to see Lopez start – and this has started a big debate in Spain.

Casillas did travel to Ecuador to play for Spain and the trip was very tiring, so many coaches - not just Ancelotti - decided that players would remain on the bench. Andres Iniesta and Jordi Alba were rested by Barcelona, as was Juan Mata by Chelsea.

On Thursday there is a friendly game at the Bernabeu between Madrid and Raul’s Qatari side, so we will see what happens with Casillas then… Source: EurosportWhat do you think?

N.O W.A.Y

I've always had this weird thought about Casillas vs Mourinho. Now I understand what was reported was that Mourinho was the evil one in that conflict and I'm not trying to defend Mourinho, but it seems awfully suspicious that Casillas has all these connections or links that then connect to the media. So for example, his girlfriend. His girlfriend has already went out and gave away things Casillas has told her to the media before. Then there was recently, Valdes telling the press Casillas should be starting for Real Madrid. Why the hell does Valdes care about Casillas starting for Madrid? Another one was Xavi and Iniesta's constant hammering on Mourinho as well. Now I understand to some, Mourinho could be a twat in their view but did any Madrid player say **** about Tito or Pep? No. It's a Spanish connection that the conspiracy theorist in me says. It blocks out Mourinho and doesn't care too much for foreigners like Khedira, Modric etc.

Why do I say that? From what I've heard, when Barcelona players and Madrid players were fighting during that controversial El Clasico Casillas decided to fix these issues by inviting both teams to dinner. But he only invites the Spanish Barcelona and Madrid players. That's why I believe Ronaldo was also mad at Casillas for a while. To top it all off as well, Casillas doesn't come out and clear anything. The captain of Madrid; the one who should fix this solution as a captain just keeps quiet and lets his friends do the talking. And because of the long relationship with Madrid and Spain, Casillas is like an untouchable saint to them (which he could be for all I know). It all seems too suspicious.

In fact, this was Mourinho's last piece of advice to Perez, which might be the reason Casillas was benched in opening day (according to Diego Torres from EL PAIS. Translated so may be some messed up English):

"With the signing of the settlement the Portuguese gave the president a final diagnosis. If wanted his team to succeed, he recommended, should eliminate whom he called the "black sheep", starting with the captain. Casillas was, in the opinion of the technician, the main cause of the deterioration of its relations with the template. The goalkeeper was four months without playing, but manager described him as a conspirator whose maneuvers between players triggered the failure in the league, the Champions League elimination and defeat in Cup"

Now remember this is all an assumption and I don't mean this as blaming Casillas.

Well, first of all, he would definately fit in. He is friends with pretty much every Spanish player on the team. Secondly, he would make our team complete.

But it won't happen. Ancellotti is no fool!

Why would Casillas, a man who's flesh and blood represent Real Madrid, go and join his rivals Barcelona? It's just some more ridiculous rumor from the media. Don't believe a word of it.

And Iniesta and Xavi spoke out for Casillas because Xavi and Iker are best-friends, and Iker is also on good terms with all other Spanish national team members. Xavi and Andres just felt that Iker was being hard-done by Mourinho, because obviously Iker was being benched for some political reason, not a footballing one.

Don't forget that Iker was being benched for Adan a LONG time before Diego Lopez came to the club. That's where it all started. I'm okay with people saying Lopez is in great form, and that it would be an injustice to bench him simply because Casillas is more popular than him, but Iker was being benched from the very beginning. No one can say that Adan is better than Iker, so we could visibly see that Jose had a personal problem with Iker, not a professional one.

For me, loyalty comes first; then comes where you play. Casillas has been playing for Madrid since 1999 so he hasn't left at all.

This is just a rumor and it will never happen. Even though he would be a great bonus to our team I like Casillas and hope this doesn't happen for his own sake. With Mourinho gone, I believe a lot of the controversy and negative emotions have left with him, allowing Madrid to eventually recover to its peaceful state.