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In football, securing a place next to elite goalkeepers is probably the most difficult task. Many young goalkeepers dream of once guarding the gates of their national team, but they remain backup goalkeepers. Spaniard Iker Casillas has already earned a place among the best and celebrates beautiful anniversaries - 800 matches defending the national team and Real Madrid club gates.
The 32-year-old captain of Real Madrid reached this number on Sunday in the Confederations Cup match against Uruguay, playing his 146th match in the national team. 654 times he defended the gates of the Madrid club.
Iker grew up in a city in the Madrid region and always considered himself a Madrilenian, although he lived in the Basque Country for a while. His father worked in the Ministry of Education, and his mother is a hairdresser. The goalkeeper has said that the family was crazy about football and his father always guessed the results of matches. One weekend, the future Spanish football star forgot to register his father's guesses when he correctly predicted the results of all 14 matches and could have won more than a million euros.
In the Real Madrid club, Iker Casillas made his debut in the 1999/2000 season and has been playing in the club for 14 seasons since then. In 2000, he became the youngest goalkeeper of all time to play in the Champions League final. At that time, Real Madrid, with 18-year-old Iker in goal, crushed Valencia 3-0. It was just a good start to his long career at the club. To this day, he has played 476 matches in the top Spanish league "La Liga" and 127 matches in the Champions League.
In 2008, the Real club offered him and Raul Gonzalez a lifelong contract. The goalkeeper then extended the contract until 2017 with the option to extend it further. A five-time Spanish champion and two-time Champions League winner this season had disagreements with Jose Mourinho and was sidelined. It is not yet clear how he will fare under the new coach.
Over the years, the goalkeeper has broken many records in both Real Madrid and the Spanish national team. He has played the most matches (146), won the most games (108), and is the player who has started the most matches (133). He made his debut for the national team in 2000 in a match against Sweden. He is already a two-time European (2008, 2012) and World (2010) champion.
