Vicente del Bosque has once more come to the defence of Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas, saying that the goalkeeper cannot be treated as an equal to others.
The 32-year-old’s position for club and country is once more up for debate having been omitted from Carlo Ancelotti’s first XI for the opening fixtures of the 2013-14 campaign.
For the ‘keeper’s Coach at international level, though, the situation is perhaps an injustice to how he perceives the No 1.
“Iker is not equal to others. We associate him with many years of football, many years of our football,” explained Del Bosque to reporters this week.
“He has 149 international appearances and that is something else. I think we should be very loving and very respectful.
“There is the utmost respect for who he is competing in goal with. I have never intended to talk about who should play.
“What I have always argued is that we should be very considerate, very respectful and, I do not know if the word is nice, but being nice with people like Iker Casillas because he has shown a lot.
“We are defenders of Iker, we should treat everyone equally, but to do that in a group of 23 is sometimes the greatest injustice.
“His place in the national team? I have never said that for a player to make the national team that they have to play regularly with their club.”
