More excerpts from El Macca!
– “[Iker] still had fluffy hair, still came to train on the Metro or bus, still bore the brunt of the older players’ jokes – ‘He’s very naïve, gullible and probably doesn’t have the wages of the other lads so we wind him up about his car,’ chuckled Steve – but Casillas had claimed his shirt by the spring of 2000.”
– “Casillas, who has only recently passed his driving test, drives off in a dusty old car with a nasty rattle.”
– [In Paris, before the 2000 Champions League final], “Casillas, eating an apple, is caught by a fan for a photograph. He smiles mid-chew, then resumes once the picture is taken. Stuck in a photo album somewhere in Spain is a picture of the goalkeeper, arm around a fan’s shoulder, hand holding a red apple with one very large bite taken out.”
– [after winning the 2000 Champions League final]: “Raúl and Morientes shimmied up to tie a Real Madrid scarf around the goddess’s neck and kiss her cheek. Roberto Carlos sat, straddling a lion’s head, holding the trophy up above his head, and we all sang the repertoire of traditional songs.”
– [At the Bernabéu], “they announced our names individually and we ran out in a bizarre combination of suit trousers and team shirts… Raúl did the matador thing with the Spanish flag… Real Madrid are good at the flash stuff. The trophy was suspended from a crane and gradually cranked down on a wire, the fireworks went off, every seat in the stadium full… a dewy-eyed Del Bosque raised a victorious fist…”