In a revealing interview with El Mundo, the parents of Iker Casillas have lashed out at Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez and blame him for the goalkeeper’s departure from the club to Porto.
“He [Pérez] never wanted him because he is short,” said María del Carmen Fernández González, the goalkeeper’s mother. “He likes tall [goalkeepers]. He always had an obsession with getting Buffon. My Iker has had to put up with not what is written, he has endured a psychological pressure, he has been given different treatment to other players. He has been vilified for five years. It has all been very unfair and it has taken its toll on a mental level.”
María Carmen goes on to say: “Florentino has some very ugly details in the closet. He has been very unkind to him and luckily my son has been very strong. It is Florentino who is at fault because my son wanted to retire at Madrid”.
The parents of the Spain international also think their son has suffered from a “smear campaign”. “It has been orchestrated by Florentino with the support of several leading journalists in the media since 2010. For sure, if there are whistles at you from 1,000 guys at the Bernabéu and you ask your friends to up the volume so you can sell, it is not love. That is not right. It was a campaign of harassment and demolition,” his father José Luis told El Mundo.
In addition, they could not believe that their son is moving to a team such as Porto. “It is a team [at the level of] the Segunda B [third tier of Spanish football] for a person at the level of Iker. A world champion cannot finish his career at Porto. He could have finished where he wanted to and he would not have minded if it had been at Barça because they are gentlemen,” his mother added.