Iker Casillas Photo: VCG

Lionel Messi is regarded by many as the greatest player on the planet, perhaps the best to ever play the game but, despite his relentless stats, the Barcelona star is in fact human.

He admitted as much in praising the retiring former Real Madrid and Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas, writing in the Spanish newspaper AS.

"Iker retires today, but he passed into the history of football a long time ago," Messi wrote. "Not only because he was a benchmark in La Liga, but also because he managed to win everything internationally."

The man known as "San Iker" played 725 times for Barcelona's Madrid rivals while also helping Spain to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, sandwiched in between back to back European Championships.

That World Cup final against the Netherlands in Johannesburg featured his most important save. Long before Andres Iniesta settled the game in the 116th minute of extra time, Casillas had thwarted Arjen Robben after the winger broke away on the hour mark.

"As time goes by, you tend to forget things like that [save on Robben], but when I see it again on television, it all comes back to me," Casillas told the media after Spain returned to the scene of their greatest triumph for a friendly against South Africa in 2013.

"Watching it again still gives me shivers - I held out for as long as I could and got my right toe to his shot to steer it wide, I was lucky."

Messi would dispute that it was down to luck.

"You are a spectacular goalkeeper and it was really hard to have you as an opponent. But, looking back, I also think that it was a pretty nice rivalry that made us have to outdo ourselves every time we faced each other," the Argentina international added.

Mutual respect

The feeling was somewhat mutual: Casillas referred to Messi as a "GOAT" (Greatest of All Time) amid praising a Barcelona win over Atletico Madrid on social media. While he would never have praised his rival while playing for Real Madrid, by then Casillas was at Porto.

Casillas, 39, moved to Porto after leaving Real Madrid in 2015. He would win two Primeira Liga titles in Portugal but has not played since he suffered a heart attack in training last year. Despite that Casillas lifted the Portuguese Cup last month, a gesture which he thanked the club for.

The goalkeeper left Porto last month, with the Oporto-based club releasing a video with the message "Forever one of us." This week Casillas called time on his career forever. 

"Today is one of the most important days of my life and at the same time very difficult in my career: It is time to say goodbye to football," Casillas said of his retirement.

"The important thing is the path you travel and the people who accompany you, not the destination to which it takes you," Casillas wrote on social media to announce that he was hanging up his gloves. "I think I can say, without hesitation, that it has been the path and the dream destination." 

With his boyhood club, Casillas joined Real Madrid aged 9, the destination involved winning everything in club football. 

There were five La Liga titles, three UEFA Champions League crowns and in 2014, the FIFA Club World Cup - Casillas made his 700th appearance for the club in the final against San Lorenzo in Morocco before lifting the trophy as captain. 

The club led the tributes to their former keeper, the one they regard as the best in their 118-year history.

"Real Madrid wants to show its appreciation, admiration and love for one of the greatest legends of our club and world football," the Spanish giants announced in a statement on the club's official website. 

"Iker Casillas belongs to the heart of Real Madrid and will be so forever."

Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who was Casillas' rival for the No.1 spot at Real after arriving at the club following an impressive 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, paid his own tribute to his former teammate.

"It was my pleasure to share the locker room with you," Navas wrote on an Instargam story. "May God be with you in this new phase of your life. Pura vida (pure life)!" 

Return to Madrid?

That new phase is expected to involve a return to Real Madrid, where it should be noted that not all of his time was happy. 

The worst part of that was arguably under Jose Mourinho, who dropped the goalkeeper for a game against Malaga in December 2012. 

At that point Casillas had been first choice for over a decade but the Portuguese coach dropped him for Antonio Adan and then bought Diego Lopez in from Sevilla. 

Still, Mourinho was among those to pay tribute to San Iker, calling him a "great goalkeeper and a great man."

"Iker is one of the greatest goalkeepers in Real Madrid's history, in Spain's history and world football's history," Mourinho told AS. 

"With him, we won the league which broke all records and we also had some difficult moments because of a decision which I took - a professional decision, not a personal one, to play someone else in goal".

"His intelligence and maturity meant that we always have respected each other and years later, even been able to become good friends," the Tottenham Hotpsur manager added.

1,000 club

Casillas retires as one of the few footballers to have played more that 1,000 games as a professional during his career and as one of the most decorated players in his position.

He also holds the record for the most shutouts in the UEFA Champions League and for Spain's national team, for whom he played 167 times over 16 years.

He may serve Spain again. In February Casillas announced that he would run for the presidency of the Spanish Football Federation before dropping out of the race because of the global coronavirus pandemic. 

Should he choose to pick that up again, Spanish football will surely be in safe hands. 
Newspaper headline: He’s a ‘keeper’