La Liga club Real Madrid would surely be dreaming to defeat its arch rival Barcelona in coming weeks, but it would have never imagined that it would have to do the task without its ace goalie. Madrid first goalkeeper and captain Casillas got his left hand fractured when he collided with teammate Alvaro Arbeloa accidentally in his attempt to recuse the ball during Wednesday’s 1-1 tie with Valencia in the Spanish Cup. Later, his injury found to be serious one and he had to undergo a surgery immediately. Having a bone surgery means laid off for at least 12 weeks; hence he will also miss the field for a similar term.
His club issued a statement containing doctor’s brief about the injury; statement scripted by chief medical officer Carlos Diez reads as, “The period of unavailability is between eight and 12 weeks. After a successful operation yesterday, the captain is back home resting. Everything went superbly well. Now it is all a question of waiting while he recuperates.” At the moment; he is replaced by reserve goalie Antonio Adan, but there is another big concern for Madrid as it has to play around 16 tie of Champions League with Manchester United along with Spanish Cup’s finals against Barcelona. Moreover, in coming weeks, Spain has to visit to France for crucial world cup qualifiers and probably, Casillas’ absence would be a major setback for Spain’s national team.
Soon after his injury on Friday, local media start predicting about a suitable January transfer window signee, and as expected, without missing even a day, Madrid bosses signed a four and a half year deal with Sevilla goalkeeper Diego Lopez who will replace Casillas in coming matches. Reportedly, the amount agreed upon is around 4 million euros, which is quite big enough to replace a high profile player, though nothing has officially been disclosed about the deal price. Aged keeper Lopez has earlier been a part of Madrid in 2006 before he left on a five year deal to Villarreal.
Recently, Casillas has been in the news around Christmas when he was dropped by coach which led a sense of discomfort in the dressing room and now his bone fracture, things are not working in his favor, but hopefully, he will be back in A-team once he recovers from his successful surgery he went through. Moreover, club president Florentino Perez also tried to clear the air by calling a conference where he denied of any rift among coach, captain goalie, and teammate Ramos.