Madrid Press: Iker Casillas working harder than ever

With Spain playing South Africa in a friendly in Johannesburg tonight much of the focus in the sports pages today is the return of the national team to the scene of of their greatest triumph ever – Soccer City – where they defeated the Netherlands 1-0 to lift the World Cup three years ago.

In his pre-match press conference, Iker Casillas, captain on that famous night in 2010, revealed his still feels nervous watching the replays of the goal scored by Andres Iniesta. He also said the save he made from former team mate Arjen Robben, when the Dutchman was clean through on goal, makes him shiver.

“When I saw Robben advancing, I thought there was an equal chance of him firing wide or me making a save. Watching it again still gives me shivers – I held out for as long as I could and got my right toe to his shot to steer it wide, I was lucky. I just feel very happy to have been part of that group of players in that side and being able to make the people back home feel proud of being Spanish,” he said

In the past year of so, Casillas has had a tough time having been dropped from the Real Madrid side by Jose Mourinho and only being played in the Champions League and Copa del Rey by Carlo Ancelotti. Over the months, many team mates at club and country have backed the 32-year-old stopper, with the latest being Sergio Busuqets, the Barcelona midfielder.

Speaking to the press he admitted Casillas is working harder than ever to win back his place in the side, and to ensure he goes to the World Cup in Brazil next summer as the undisputed number one with Spain. Busquests said Casillas has always been a hard worker in training but is doing even more work now.

Away from Casillas and Spain, both Marca and AS say Xabi Alonso is close to signing a new deal at the Santiago Bernabeu, ending speculation he will leave for a new club in England, Italy or the USA.