Iker Casillas lost his place in Real Madrid’s team under Jose Mourinho because he helped calm the waters between the Spanish internationals at his club and at Barcelona, according to national coach Vicente del Bosque.
Several matches between the two clubs during the combative Mourinho’s stint in Spain were marred by brawling, accusations of refereeing bias and play-acting although more recent meetings have been less controversial.
“It’s true that in difficult moments for the national team, when the Real-Barca matches got a little strange, he (Casillas) helped the team to move on and continue winning things like Euro 2012,” Del Bosque said.
“This did not go down well and perhaps had a detrimental effect also on Iker,” added the former Real coach.
“He was a key figure in fostering harmony in the national team.”
The tension reached a low point in August 2011 when Mourinho, now back for a second spell at London club Chelsea, jabbed a finger in the eye of Barca assistant coach Tito Vilanova as fighting erupted during a Spanish Super Cup game.
Real’s Spain contingent, including goalkeeper Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa, appeared to fall out with Barca internationals like Xavi and Carles Puyol, prompting concern it could affect the national team’s performances.
Casillas, the Real and Spain captain, sought to ease the tension by meeting Xavi and Puyol, and Del Bosque suggested this had contributed to Mourinho’s decision last season to replace his skipper with Diego Lopez.
Even under new Real coach Carlo Ancelotti, Casillas has been left on the bench this season.
Rich coffers
It was revealed yesterday that Real Madrid’s revenues exceeded €500 million for a second consecutive season in 2012-13, rising 1.3 per cent to €520.9 million, the world’s richest club by income said.
Real topped Deloitte’s annual ranking of the world’s richest soccer clubs for an eighth consecutive year on the accounting firm’s list for the 2011-12 season published January.
Under president Florentino Perez they became the first sports club to exceed the threshold of half a billion euros, said Deloitte.
Barcelona were second with revenue of €483 million and England’s Manchester United were third with €396 million.