Casillas Opens Up About Madrid, Spain And His Future
Iker Casillas believes that the title race will not be between Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain and has admitted that he could one day play abroad.
Iker Casillas believes that the title race will not be between Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain and has admitted that he could one day play abroad.
The Spanish goalkeeper covered a range of subjects in an extensive interview with Radio Marca as he spoke about Madrid, his future and the national team's chance at Euro 2008.
Madrid are four points clear at the top of the table, but Casillas thinks that there will be several clubs that will pressure them in the second half of the campaign.
"You cannot forget about Sevilla, that are improving with every game, or Valencia, who have a great team and will come good at any moment, or Villarral or Atlético de Madrid," he explained.
In Europe, Madrid have missed out on two chances to secure their place in the next round of the Champions League, but Casillas is confident that they will finish the job in the final match.
"We have stumbled slightly in the Champions League, but these can be sorted out and we can produce our best form against Lazio in front of our own fans," he said.
"Anything can happen in football, but we want to qualify for the next round and then switch our focus to the league and the Copa del Rey."
Casillas was then asked about whether he could ever see himself playing in another team and while staying at the Bernabéu is his current aim, that may not happen.
"I am one of those people that always change my ideas, but at the moment I expect to finish my career with Madrid. That is my intention," he explained.
"I cannot rule out playing elsewhere, but it would be outside of Europe, like the United States for example. Although I would have to learn English and I might be a bit lazy for that."
Finally, the Spain number one looked to calm expectations of the national team's chances of winning the European Championships after avoiding any of the favourites in the group stage draw.
"People have to take it step-by-step in the build-up to the European Championships and not expect the team to go out and win the trophy with ease," Casillas said.
"Spain has not yet won anything and we have to stop this talk."
"It will not be easy to qualify from the groups as Russia has done well in qualification, Greece won the tournament last time."
"There will be many influences. We will need, to be in form and none of the players are going to make any predictions that we can later be called up on."