In an interview with The COPE Partythe former goalkeeper of Spain Iker Casillas – as reported by Brand – spoke ahead of tomorrow’s final against England, starting with a comparison with his golden age with the Red Furies: “What we experienced in 2008 was something wonderful. It’s different. I had the opportunity to experience it first hand: it’s a film that you know how it starts and what the ending will be. Let’s hope the ending is the same and that we get to the fourth European Cup. Even if we have to understand that there’s someone else ahead who wants it. The people, the streets, the screens… it’s a really special moment and it’s nice to remember it”.
It all started in the quarter-finals against Italy, at Euro 2008: “The day before I hadn’t slept. I was very nervous. I slept about four or five hours. If we hadn’t managed to get through against Italy that day in those penalties, everything that came after wouldn’t have existed. I’m totally convinced that that day marked everything that followed, that the team grew and that the team went even further.”
The comparison with a challenge of the current edition: “It was like now with that match against Germany. That turning point for the boys who believed they were the favourites to win the European Championship. The Cup seemed destined for two heavyweights like Germany and France… now we start as favourites to win the final, it’s a reality.”
Thinking about tomorrow: “Now all we have to do is put the icing on the cake with the final on Sunday. From what you see and breathe, you can see a great atmosphere, a good relationship between the teammates and this is good for the group. This makes you richer and gets you where you have arrived: to thrill an entire country”.
On De la Fuente’s training, with a focus on Yamal: “You see a united team, with young guys and other more veterans who were younger when I was there and have been able to make that transition which is not so easy and the coach, to whom we must give the credit that corresponds to having won the Nations League. Yamal? A delight. All of us who have been footballers envy a little the participation of Lamine, so young, so prepared, with that elegance and that savoir-faire, it’s not easy”.
Closing on Morata: “Let him get through all this with flying colors. He has experience, he is the captain and he is no longer the kid who arrived in the first team and we had to wake him up a bit, because sometimes he fell asleep. He has that responsibility to transmit tranquility and it must be that above all. He is in a team where he must transmit it. He values the younger players and if in the end he is still there after so long it is for something he has done well, we must also give him the value he deserves.”