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Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas admitted that there were moments when he felt like he was “the plague” at the club and that he had considered leaving Spain to play abroad.
Casillas has won back his place as first choice keeper at the club this season after difficult 18 months which saw him relegated to the dugout, first by former coach Jose Mourinho and then by present manager Carlo Ancelotti, reports Xinhua.
Compatriot Diego Lopez was preferred by both coaches instead of Casillas. Lopez moved to AC Milan at the start of the current season and since then Casillas has returned in goal, despite the arrival of Costa Rican stopper Keylor Navas and doubts by a section of Madrid fans.
“I have had a bad streak. Especially after the injury (a broken hand bone) that had changed my life,” Spain’s national team captain said Monday.
He was unwilling to discuss his supposed bad relationship with Mourinho. “You would have to ask Mourinho,” the 33-year old said while at the same time praising the now Chelsea boss.
“Mourinho’s time at Madrid was good for us. I will always think that. We were equal with Barcelona for a while and in the first season things were good. In the last season they were not so good. I have the utmost respect for my coaches but when something goes on you should not discuss it, you should respect your boss,” the Spain international said.
It was a difficult time for Casillas, who had been accused of working to get Mourinho out of the club, something he denies.
“We were not talking about Mourinho. For me, he was one of the best coaches that I’ve had. He was daring, he had character. Then it came out that we had pressured the club,” he said.
Those rumours made his life in Madrid difficult.
“A few months ago everything was bad and I was to blame for everything. The first problem that everyone wanted to get rid of, I seemed like the plague,” he said, who for the first time in his 16-year career at the club was booed and whistled by a section of the fans which he admitted “hurts”.
“I had thought about leaving. You do not want to disturb things or be the reason for a bad atmosphere. But then you think you have to compete and fight. I want to finish my career here,” he concluded.
