Kiko Casilla defended Real Madrid goal against Alavés and he did it with great success again. Los Blancos kept a clean sheet after seven games in a row conceding goals. Curiously, Casilla was the goalkeeper in that last game, against Espanyol in the 18th of February. Should the Spanish goalkeeper replace Keylor Navas.
The Costa Rican goalkeeper had some rest after the trip to America to play with his national team in the Hexagonal to qualify for the Russian World Cup. Keylor Navas had poor performances in the two games with Costa Rica and his national team lost and drew against Mexico and Honduras.
These poor performances with Costa Rica can be added to the bad games played with Real Madrid. Keylor Navas made a huge mistake against Betis and he could have done more against Las Palmas or Napoli, for instance. He’s receiving several criticism from Real Madrid supporters, who are booing him in the home games at Santiago Bernabéu stadium.
On the other hand, Kiko Casilla is showing his great skills every time he has the chance. Against Alavés he kept a clean sheet and showed security in every aerial ball, although he made one small mistake. Casilla has played 8 games in La Liga keeping four clean sheets and conceding six goals, whereas Keylor Navas has played 20 games with four clean sheets and conceding 22 goals.
After the game, Casilla was asked about keeping a clean sheet: “It’s everybody’s fault. We’ve done a game with a good result, but it wasn’t because of the way we played. It’s been tough. There weren’t spaces to play. Happy for the three points and for the clean sheet”.
The goalkeeper was also asked about Keylor Navas: “We have a completed squad. Keylor? It’s quite unfair how he’s been criticised and how he’s been treated, it’s a lack of respect. People don’t have memory and don’t remember the good things. They only remember the bad things. I leave to the press the debates about the goal”, Casilla said.
Apart from this debate, both have to hear some rumours about new goalkeepers arriving to Real Madrid. Apart from David de Gea or Thibaut Courtois, the German magazine Kicker published that Los Blancos are interested on Bernd Leno, the young goalkeeper of Bayer Leverkusen.
