This is how things always end, isn't it? True love never deals in amicable separations; they're dirty, gossipy, terrible affairs. The hotter it burns, the darker the ashes. No one escapes unscathed. Iker Casillas is learning that lesson in the worst way possible. Few players ever leave Real Madrid of their own volition, and even fewer actually have the honor of retiring at the club. Instead, like Raul Gonzalez and Guti Hernandez before him, Casillas is becoming familiar with the pain of being unwanted and being forced out. Out with the old, in with the new.
Iker Casillas deserves better
Real Madrid and their fans couldn’t be more petty.
David Ramos/Getty Images
The worst part is the reaction of the fans. There's an accepted truth in football that Real Madrid supporters will boo every and anyone -- status, skill and seniority don't matter. The Bernabeu is an equal opportunity lion's den. Cristiano Ronaldo has been a victim, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale most recently; even the legends such as Raul, Guti, Zinedine Zidane, Míchel, Bernd Schuster and Martin Vazquez have all walked off shoulders slumped to a chorus of criticism. If you're in bad form, you can expect to be showered with vitriol by more than 80,000 human beings. That's just the reality of it.
Which is nonsense. Just because it is accepted doesn't make it any less stupid. Here is Casillas, one of the greatest players in not only the club's history but the history of the Spanish national team itself, and he's being treated in such a ridiculous manner. It's the epitome of entitlement. Casillas has played the most matches in Spanish history, has the most victories, has won two European Championship titles and a World Cup as the main goalkeeper; furthermore, he's played in four World Cups total and has missed only one European Championship since 2000.
In reference to Real Madrid specifically, he’s played more than 500 matches for the capital side and has been the starting goalkeeper since he was 18 years old. He’s won the coveted Champions League trophy three times, including La Decima, while setting and breaking multiple goalkeeping and appearance records. He’s been named the best goalkeeper in the world a record five consecutive times, been in so many different teams of the season that it would be tedious to list them all. He’s one of the only three men to ever lift the Champions League, European Championship and World Cup trophy as captain. Ever.
That's just a ridiculous list of achievements. Yet, here we are on the cusp of Casillas becoming the villain. The saint is, of course, not without fault: His rift with Jose Mourinho was a testament to the stubbornness of both men and their desire to flex their respective powers within the club. He was accused of being the mole who leaked stories to the press in order to undermine his manager, and he has used his influence for his benefit on more than one occasion. Even now, as his era seems to be coming to an end, he stands as a stumbling block for Real Madrid's future. David De Gea reportedly has reservations about transferring as long as Casillas is there. Casillas, though, refuses to leave.
It’s the politics of Real Madrid at play and it’s a terrible bind for all parties to be intertwined in. Few could have expected the relationship to become this sour after so many years of prosperity.
Regardless, it doesn’t change exactly what he is not only to the club, but to world football as a whole. He deserves better treatment than constantly being showered with dissent after every mistake. It’s extremely childish to piggyback on his great performances en route to a Champions League win and then forget it all as you cup your hands around your mouth and boo him for every cross he flaps at and shot he bobbles. It’s no secret that modern football determines the value of a player by what he can provide at the present time, but the recency effect here is downright staggering.
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The whole culture is distasteful and egocentric. It’s as if fans believe themselves to be the arbiter of punishment for bad performances. In what world of reason or logic, does booing a player who is performing badly, one who is on the team that you support, a good idea? You would have to believe that the athlete is so aloof and unaware of his own skill and talent level, that they somehow cannot process the fact that they’re not doing well. And that you, the fan, is there to remind them of their failures and admonish them publicly for it.
If it’s supposed to galvanize them into trying harder, then it’s a silly tactic. If it’s just a way of showing dissatisfaction, then it’s gross and unbecoming. Booing doesn’t help anything at all, except in terms of showing the world just how petty you can be. Players need the support of the fans most, not when they’re doing well, but when they’re doing badly. Most athletes know when they are suffering in form, and the self criticism and self doubt alone are already working to deconstruct the confidence; the added pressure from 80,000 people is wholly unnecessary.
It’s as if you’re trying to help someone climb out of a hole by constantly criticizing all their efforts to do so. It’s irrational.
The situation will run its course, and it will most likely end like the ones before it did. Casillas will eventually leave Real Madrid, move to a different country and play out his last days under less pressure. And because he loves the club and his identity is intertwined with it, he will return in some capacity, maybe even as an ambassador, once his footballing days are over. But it should not be forgotten that with everything he has done for the club and country, when he was suffering, the fans chose to add to his woes and bury him under their heels. And it was OK because it happens to everybody.
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