Casillas explains his departure from Real Madrid

Former Real Madrid goalkeeper and club legend Iker Casillas has shared a post on his Instagram account explaining why he left the club. It’s been five years since Casillas played his last game at the Bernabeu and the goalkeeper thought it was a good moment to explain his departure.

“I haven’t talked about my departure from Real Madrid very often. I gave a press conference on my own —a mistake— and left. It’s been five years since that moment. Five years since I crossed the border to our neighbor country Portugal. I needed to feel as a different player, to have a new atmosphere and environment and to leave that spotlight and criticism behind so that I could improve. That’s right folks, every player —no matter if he’s good or bad— wants to improve and in order to do that you can improve physically and mentally. This last thing was important and I felt it again in Porto. Don’t let them tell you other things. This pic belongs to a Real Madrid vs Getafe played on the 2014-15 season. I knew it was going to be my last game. The Last Match,” wrote Casillas on the post.

The goalkeeper was coming off a series of tough seasons with Real Madrid. The 2012-13 season with Mourinho wasn’t easy for him as the Portuguese coach chose Diego Lopez as his starter.

A year later, Carlo Ancelotti started Casillas in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey while Diego Lopez was the goalkeeper in La Liga. Then, Casillas became the regular starter in the 2014-15 season —his last one in the club— ahead of new signing Keylor Navas.

Casillas’ farewell from the club was rather strange, as the goalkeeper chose not to receive any kind of tribute or testimonial match given to other club legends like Raul Gonzalez or Guti. Now, it’s clear that Casillas just wanted to get away from the noise surrounding his figure in the club.

The goalkeeper wrote #IWillBeBack on his Instagram post suggesting that he would probably like to work for the club at a certain point, although he will be running for president of the Spanish Football Association very soon.