Valdes, Casillas, and the politics of Spain
Victor Valdes’ irrevocable announcement that he does not intend to renew his contract with FC Barcelona prompts me to suggest a possible solution to the antagonisms between Catalunya and Madrid- have Iker Casillas replace him.
The Real Madrid goalkeeper is at loggerheads with Mourinho, but enjoys good and enduring friendships with other players in La Roja , among whom are some Barca players. The presence of Iker in Barca would bring perhaps the best goalkeeper in the world – better than Valdes without a doubt-to the city that boasts not only that it has the best football club in the world, but also that this is more than just a club. Together with Catalans- his friends Xavi and Pujol- and non-Catalan players of the quality of Iniesta, Villa & Messi, Iker would help turn Barca into an example of a possible federal constitution, both consensual and consented , and leaving those who chant Independence when the clock strikes the 17th minute without a convincing argument.
Casillas has a noble and generous personality. He is also a consummate professional, both brave and talented. He belongs to a lineage of legendary goalkeepers who have graced the Spanish game over many years, both at club and national squad level. I am thinking here of The Divine One Zamora (who played for Barca and Real Madrid and RC Español), of Ramallets, Iribar , Zubizarreta, Cañizares, Pepe Reina. By contrast who can forget another great Spanish goalkeeper who failed at the decisive moment? I am thinking here of Luis Arconada , letting in Platini’s goal in the final of the European Champions in 1984. The Spanish goalkeeper, as I argue in my book La Roja, is a Quixotic figure. He personifies those high ideals of imagination and sacrifice, a bastion against the enemy as well as an excuse for disaster.
So let me appeal to the sectarian politicians of Catalunya and the Castilian right to stop making our lives even more miserable with their extremisms. It is time, as Vicente Del Bosque has argued, for football to teach Spaniards of whatever region or alleged nationality how to be civilized with each other.
Very provocative! Would Real sell him to Barca? Also, if Mourinho is set to leave at the end of the season, would Casillas want to go?
I raised this as a hypothesis . I fear that if -as seems likely- Iker does not go to Barca-Spanish football, like Spain itself, will remain increasingly divisive-what the poet Machado referred to as as the “Two Spains”
I suspect nothing will happen before the summer, but I can see the football & political benefits of such a move for player & country alike.
Having accompanied Jimmy to watch a Real Madrid v Barcelona Champions return leg in the largest Barça Peña outside Cataluña, in Móstoles, we were both struck at the end of the game by the incongruity of seeing Barça supporters dancing in the streets after a well earned victory in the heart of this soulless dormitory town in the heart of Castilla, the birth place of Iker. One could sense, behind the shutters of the flats in the large tower blocks overlooking the bar El Rebujito (named after an Andalucian cocktail!), the Other Spain (Real Madrid) were hearing and perhaps watching the wild celebrations outside the bar, and that the “Two Spains” really do exist… it would be interesting to return there at the beginning of next season – if Iker does actually join Barcelona – and see how this Barça peña accepts the town’s prodigal son as one of their own and whether the council will debate changing the name of the town’s main road: La Avenida Iker Casillas
Interesting but would never happen……??
Tony, sorry, I was kidding (I tend to be a bit provocative here, much to Jimmy’s despair). I doubt they would ever change the name of a street named after probably the most important person to have ever come from Móstoles. However no Madrid fan from Móstoles would appreciate him going to Barça – the peña (which I thought was amazing, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and their hospitality in spite of Madrid loosing..) would be over the moon having Casillas as the Barça keeper….