Casillas will have to wait to get a call from Real Madrid on Wednesday when the Galacticos play their first leg quarterfinals of the Champions League – the competition that Real Madrid have stapled between the eyes and Iker is not on the court or not even on the bench.
Mourinho avoided any sort of discussions, polls and chats that were in the media until it was the match against Galatasaray on who should occupy the Madrid goal in this great stake. Undeterred, with a relentless gesture, Mourinho said in the press room;
“In football we have to be honest with ourselves and with our players,” said Mourinho. “Casillas still isn’t ready to be Diego Lopez’s backup.”
It is hard to imagine that Casillas is going to find it more difficult to return to defend the goal at Real Madrid this season, but it increasingly looks like a possibility neither in the Cup final or the Champions League. The good performance during these two months of Diego Lopez , who joined Madrid after Casillas’s setback, and the quarrels between the captain and goalkeeper sentenced Mourinho ostracism. Maybe the keeper will at some inconsequential nine games get a start at goal as these games practically doesn’t have any meaning to it.
The Portuguese established a fire in the locker room of Real Madrid when he left the Captain at the bench late last December without any tactical reasons. The gesture was seen by many, including himself Casilas, like a pulse. A pulse in which Mourinho is unwilling to give up because now there is also some tactical reasons behind it.