Real Madrid have waved an emotional goodbye to one of the most decorated players in the club's history, at the same time bringing a sad but much-needed conclusion to an unwanted and complicated drama.
Long-serving and hugely decorated goalkeeper Iker Casillas has somewhat begrudgingly brought his 25-year relationship with his boyhood club to an end and will now move across the border to Porto. After rumours of moves to Arsenal and Roma among other clubs, this time it's happening.
His departure comes during a summer in which tears were shed in Barcelona over Xavi's departure for Qatar and in Liverpool, where Steven Gerrard moved to LA Galaxy. On paper, Casillas should receive a similarly compelling farewell from the Bernabeu and there will be tears, and plenty of them, but the reality is it won't be quite like the flood at the Camp Nou or Anfield.
The goalkeeper, born in Mostoles, a suburb in the southwest of Madrid, has won it all as a player. With his hometown club he has won the Champions League three times, La Liga five times, the Copa del Rey twice, the Spanish Super Cup four times, the European Super Cup twice, the Club World Cup once and the Intercontinental Cup once. Internationally, he has won the World Cup and the European Championships twice. He has won the majority of these while captaining his team.
On top of the accolades, he is Spain's most-capped player, he should surpass Xavi as the player with most Champions League appearances and he is only the third player, as a captain of his team, to win the holy treble of the Champions League, European Championships and World Cup. The other two? Didier Deschamps with Juventus and France and Franz Beckenbauer with Bayern Munich and West Germany.
With that kind of trophy cabinet, and 725 appearances for Madrid, he will go down in the history books as one of the greatest players to have played the beautiful game, but his farewell at Madrid, the club where he achieved it all, will not be as beautiful as it should be. The majority will bid the player a fond and sad farewell, but there will be others who will be glad to see him go. That some reports suggest he has been advised not to bid one last farewell to the Bernabeu speaks volumes.
It wasn't meant to end this way. Casillas is a "Madridista," a guy who would be sat in the Bernabeu stands had he not had the privilege of wearing the famous badge on his chest. He is a player who rose through the youth ranks at the club and made it, the kind of player who should be penned in as a club legend even if he didn't have the accolades to rubber-stamp his status.
He joined the youth ranks 25 years ago and was included in the first-team squad for the first time in the Champions League on Nov. 27, 1997, at the age of 16 in Rosenborg, a full year before now-former Madrid teammate Martin Odegaard was even born. He was the youngest goalkeeper, at 19 years and four days, to play in a Champions League final when he helped Madrid to their eighth European crown with a 2-1 win against Valencia in 2000. His career took off and the trophies followed. If Madrid are synonymous with the Champions League, Casillas is too in the modern day having lifted three of them aloft.
Fast-forward 16 years and a treasure trove of trophies later, and Casillas is no longer Madrid's golden boy. Few are exempt from the infamous Bernabeu whistles, with idols such as Zinedine Zidane and Raul having the demanding Madrid fans on their backs, but with Casillas it has been different. It has been constant over the last few years, and it has come at a time when he has given his all and won it all for Madrid.
From a confident untouchable just two years ago, the goalkeeper will leave a shell of his former self and with some of the shine taken off his legend status. The whistles have been deafening on occasion, and the chants of "topo" (mole) have come not only from the away fans, but the home fans too.
The crux of the matter dates back to his battle with Jose Mourinho at the back end of 2012. Dropped for "purely technical" reasons for a game at Malaga in December, one Madrid lost 3-2, the Spanish press went into frenzy and most backed their country's star man. A seemingly fateful red card for Antonio Adan, his successor, in the following match had Casillas back in the starting 11, but a hand injury resulted in Diego Lopez being signed to take the starting mantle on a weekly basis.
Casillas kept a brave and gentlemanly face on while he sat on the bench, but rumours surfaced that he was leaking stories surrounding Mourinho to the press. Reports suggested he and Sergio Ramos went to president Florentino Perez to demand Mourinho's departure or they would that summer. Ironically, it looks like both could be on their way out this summer, but back then it started a battle between those supporting Mourinho and those backing Casillas.
Things didn't end well for Mourinho, but nor did they for Casillas, who remained on the bench, playing only as cup goalkeeper when Carlo Ancelotti took charge. His error in the Champions League final during the Italian's first year in charge was largely overlooked thanks to Madrid clinching La Decima, but his disastrous performance for Spain at the World Cup just weeks later was not.
Surprisingly, a return to the first team was forthcoming last season, but while he started the campaign well, errors and some sub-standard performances crept in which saw the whistles rear their ugly heads again. There was no escape and little backing, and not only did the whistles impact the performance of Casillas -- they impacted those around him. It was a vicious circle.
With news of his departure for the Estadio do Dragao came an outpouring of emotion from Madrid fans. The majority will be sad to see a player who has come to represent the 10-time European champions leave for pastures new, but some will say it is better late than never. For some, his legacy is tainted, and reports suggesting he has been trying to squeeze every last penny from "his" club before he leaves have not helped. Perhaps some of the hate directed his way over the last two years will subside on his departure and he will be welcomed back to the Bernabeu as the legend he should be in the future. Time is a healer, and the hope is that these wounds, however small, will heal.
The 34-year-old will leave after spending two thirds of his life representing the club he adores, but perhaps his departure has come a year too late. The stigma he accumulated this season is in contrast to the one he finished his penultimate campaign with. His third Champions League triumph masked the error that he committed in letting Diego Godin in for the opener before Ramos saved the day; it should have been a warning sign.
Xavi left on the back of a historic Treble with Barcelona, and Peter Schmeichel, the man Casillas looked up to as a blossoming goalkeeper, played his last game for Manchester United in the famous Champions League victory over Bayern Munich in 1999 -- a year before Casillas helped Madrid to glory in Paris against Valencia. Had the Spain international left last season, things may have been different.
His character has been wrongly pulled apart by a section of the Madrid support, but that is not to say the timing is not right to move on. Casillas needs a new club on a personal level, and he needs a new club to help Madrid let go and move on. The stigma surrounding him has not helped matters on or off the pitch, and a wiping clean of the slate will help Madrid progress. The sooner they can tie David De Gea down the better, but in the meantime, Keylor Navas may get his time on a temporary basis next season.
Casillas says he does not want to face Madrid if he moves on, but there is a good chance Porto could lock horns with Madrid in next season's Champions League. It remains to be seen how the Madridistas will treat the Mostoles man on his return. The expectation is that any return will be one full of emotional applause, but some may still hold a grudge.
For his errors over the last two years, Porto should still be getting themselves a quality goalkeeper. Question marks remain over his abilities from set pieces and his concentration, but Casillas has been playing under a kind of pressure he has not been used to in recent seasons. Within the goldfish bowl that is life at Madrid, he has made some important saves and will be playing with a greater freedom in Portugal, one that should help and not hinder him.
His bio on the official club website reads: "Iker Casillas and Real Madrid are one and the same thing." As a player, he should be remembered as a Madrid legend alongside the club's other greats. The arguments, right or wrong, for any disruption on and off the pitch over the last two-and-a-half years should be put aside for the 23 years that came before. Casillas has been part of Madrid's unrivalled history, and Madridistas should be thankful for that. His departure marks the end of an era that still has another chapter to run in Portugal.