Casillas can make it Spanish year of the cat

Tough as it is to outshine Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham and Luis Figo, one player has done it all season and, along with Raul, he represents Spain's best hope of success at Euro 2004.

At the age of 23, goalkeeper Iker Casillas is already playing his fifth season in the Real Madrid first team and looking forward to his third appearance at a major international tournament.

He will arrive in the best form of his career, having ironed out his weaknesses on high balls and sharpened up reflexes that are feline when it comes to close-range shot-stopping.

His form has certainly impressed Beckham, Real Madrid's latest "galactico".

"I knew Casillas was a good keeper but he's even better than I thought," said Beckham, who was moved to give Casillas a kiss after his performance in a Champions League match at Partizan Belgrade. "He's just been incredible."

Casillas has been used to such plaudits since bursting into the Real first team in 1999 and his subsequent fast-track promotion to the national side.

The modest Madrileno was included in the squad for Euro 2000 but was not given a game.

He continued to make progress in terms of consistency and was given a chance to prove himself at the 2002 World Cup, after Santiago Canizares had ruled himself out by dropping a bottle of aftershave on his foot.

Casillas kept Spain alive in a penalty shootout win over Ireland but was unable to perform similar heroics against South Korea in the quarter-finals.

He left the tournament unquestionably his country's number one keeper, though, and has maintained that position under new coach Inaki Saez.

For the last two seasons he has been forced to hone his skills still further as Real have thrown defensive caution to the wind.

Casillas has a gift for spectacular reflex saves on his line and a reputation for being almost impossible to beat in one-on-one situations, a combination that could make the difference to a side lacking inspiration in other areas.