Jose Mourinho, one of the men who most marked the last stage of Iker Casillas at Real Madrid, He wanted to leave a message in AS once the goalkeeper has announced his retirement definitive of professional football. Despite the controversy surrounding the change of goal that the Portuguese coach promoted, they now maintain a great relationship, as both claim. “His intelligence and maturity have made us always respect each other and years later we have even been able to cultivate an honest friendship“emphasizes 'Mou' to this newspaper.
The Portuguese, in addition, has cataloged him as “a great goalkeeper and a great man”. He also recalled the great successes they reaped together: “He is a historic goalkeeper of Real Madrid, La Roja and world football. With him I won the League of Records and with him I had difficult moments due to my professional and never personal decision to make another teammate play. “
“My decision to make another teammate play was professional and never personal”
Mou, to AS
Evolution in your relationship
In recent years, both left behind the belligerent stance that existed in their day to publicly expose that their relationship has changed. For example, Casillas himself praised Mourinho after Tottenham turned the scoreboard against Olympiacos: “REMOTE OF Tottenham … First minutes of nerves and misdirections but then a good game. They have gone with everything. Good decisions to rethink the game“
In 2019, when Iker suffered a heart attack, Mourinho confirmed that he had quickly contacted Porto to worry about his health. He took the opportunity to review his professional relationship: “Everyone knows that when I took him off the team, there was some confrontation. I would not say that the egos were if not a problem between the captain of Real Madrid and the coach of Real Madrid. It was not easy for me to make that decision or for him to accept it. But we have a positive relationship, it is not what everyone thinks. “When they agreed, they showed that the differences were resolved by photographing together.
“Iker and I always respect each other”
Mou, to AS