Fan Forum - View Single Post - Iker Casillas [Spain/Real Madrid] App. #4: The Season's Coming Back And So Is Iker!

**|so alive|** · 08-01-2008, 11:03 AM

+BIOGRAPHY+
Iker Casillas Fernández (born May 20, 1981 in Móstoles, Madrid) is a Spanish football goalkeeper. He is currently the first choice goalkeeper for Real Madrid and the Spanish national team. He is the captain of the Spanish national team, as well as one of the vice-captains of Real Madrid.
He was a product of Real Madrid's youth system, and started in the junior squad during the 1990-91 season, but it wasn't until 1998-99 that he debuted in the senior side, replacing Bodo Illgner, and he was in Real's starting lineup the next season. In 2000, he became the youngest-ever goalkeeper to ever play in a Champions League final when Real Madrid defeated Valencia C.F. 3-0 four days after his nineteenth birthday. Casillas lost his spot to backup Cesar Sanchez after a patch of bad form during the 2001-02 campaign, but Sanchez suffered an injury in the last minutes of Madrid's 2-1 2002 Champions League final victory over Bayer Leverkusen and was replaced by Casillas, who earned back the starting shirt the next season and has maintained it since. In February 2008, he signed a contract extension that will keep him at the club until 2017, with an automatic extension if he plays 30 competitive matches during the final season of the contract. Casillas is currently the second-most capped goalkeeper in the history of the Spanish national team, behind Andoni Zubizarreta, who appeared in 126 matches for Spain during his career. He won the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup and FIFA World Youth Championship with Spain in 1999. Following his full international debut against Sweden, Casillas was an unused substitute at Euro 2000. He was part of the roster for the 2002 World Cup finals and started all of Spain's matches, cementing his spot as Spain's first choice after the tournament.
Casillas played in all eight Group 6 fixtures during Euro 2004 qualifying, conceding just four goals. He kept a clean sheet in both legs of the playoff victory against Norway, and started all of Spain's Euro 2004 matches. He was first choice for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, captaining the team twice. He started the first two Euro 2008 Group D games against Russia and Sweden before being rested in place of Pepe Reina for Spain's group stage elimination of Greece. Casillas saved two penalties from Antonio Di Natale and Daniele De Rossi as Spain eliminated Italy in the quarterfinals with a 4-2 shootout win following a goalless draw on June 22.

+SUPPORTERS+
01. |so alive|
02. Freaky Wednesday
03. Pey_23
04. Purple Nurple
05. naleyforever
06. aprilof06
07. ilovemcsteamy
08. Touldengal
09. troubled.discussions
10. OTH_OC_Lover
11. ashtray girl
12. Motoko Ayoama
13. ~Amarula~
14. kasiiula
15. hardlove
16. lovder&mer
17. Lôwrane
18. Jemistry
19. B.Davis-Baker
20. havanaxnights

+VIDEOS+
Spain win the Euro Cup 2008 Final: the celebrations, the podium and Iker holding up the trophy.
Let the celebrations begin! The Spanish team lands in Madrid and Iker steps out of the plane first raising the trophy.
The Spanish team celebrates on the plane
The Spanish team celebrates on the Champions Bus on their way to the celebrations podium
Celebrations #2 - this is all for Iker, but Reina was THE BEST here!
Que Viva Espana! Iker singing and dancing!!!

+LINKS+
Iker Casillas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
IKER CASILLAS - EL CAIMAN DE KADUNA
Iker Casillas (iker-spain)
FIFA.com - FIFA Player Statistics: Iker CASILLAS

+PREVIOUS THREADS+
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