Courtesy of AS, we find out that 20 years ago today, Iker Casillas debuted with Real Madrid.
On Jan. 12, 1991, Iker Casillas Fernández wore the escudo of Real Madrid for the first time, during the club’s Torneo Social, as a benjamín. That day, his team, Losada, faced Maqueda. Iker allowed seven goals that afternoon. Very unlike him, no? Well, the reason was that no one had told him he had to dress warmly, and so he was too cold to stop any balls!
Some 7,306 days have gone by since then, and Iker has improved quite a bit, collecting Champions League, Liga, Eurocopa and World Cup trophies along the way to where he is now, captain of Real Madrid’s first team, and of the Spanish national team.
Iker first stepped foot on the grounds of the old Ciudad Deportiva in November 1990. His dad José Luis accompanied him that day for a tryout. He didn’t do exceptionally well, but he caught the eye of Antonio Mezquita, Madrid’s then-talent scout (he also discovered Esteban Granero, meaning we should worship him). From then on, Iker’s rise through the ranks of Madrid was meteoric – in each level, he was always one or two years younger than his teammates. That is, until he got to Real Madrid C and Castilla, where he only played four games. On Nov. 25, 1997, he was called up for the first time by the first team, for a Champions League game against Rosenborg (the famous afternoon when he was pulled out of class at the Instituto El Cañaveral in Móstoles), but it wasn’t until two years later, on Sept. 12, 1999, that he made his debut in San Mamés. There were a few blips on the road after that, but for the most part, we can say the rest is history.
Iker is currently ranked sixth on Madrid’s all time official games played list with 579 games, and could surpass Hierro (601) and Gento (605) this season.
* I can see Iker continuing to work with Madrid after he retires, whether it’s as an ambassador, a coach, a sporting director, the man in charge of the cantera…