Casillas, who has been capped 162 times for Spain, is only the third captain in football history to lift the World Cup trophy, the Champions League trophy and the European Championship trophy, after Franz Beckenbauer (Germany) and Didier Deschamps (France).

His time at Real spanned twenty-five years after joining the club's youth system, known as La Fábrica, at the age of nine.

The legendary Iker Casillas was born in the Móstoles region of Madrid and as a young child, one weekend, he forgot to post his father's football predictions which correctly predicted all fourteen results.

The family lost out on an estimated €1.2m. Since then he has repaid his family many times over with his exploits between the posts.

During the 2009–10 season, in a game against Sevilla, Casillas made an extraordinary save; he ran from one side of his goal to the other and denied Diego Perotti in a one-on-one close range encounter.

After the match, he received praise from England’s greatest keeper Gordon Banks, who stated "Casillas' reflexes are incredible.

If he continues to play this well he will become one of the best goalkeepers in the history of the game."

Last year Casillas captained Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League Final, winning the title for the third time in his career with a 4–1 win over Atlético Madrid in Lisbon; this was the tenth time Real Madrid had won the trophy.

Following the Champions League win, he then went on to win the UEFA Super Cup over Sevilla in August and then won the FIFA Club World Cup as Real Madrid defeated San Lorenzo (Argentina) 2–0.

Casillas also broke Edwin van der Sar's record for the most clean-sheets in UEFA Champions League history.

His departure from Real Madrid was far from happy as hundreds Madrid fans chanted for president Florentino Perez to resign at the official send-off ceremony at the Bernabeu.

Real held the presentation following criticism over the surreal nature of Casillas's tearful news conference on Sunday, when he appeared to be alone in the stadium press room to read out a farewell statement. Casillas was given a rousing ovation as he posed with the eighteen trophies he won with Real, including three European Cups.