Iker Casillas' Real Madrid fairytale is over after 16 seasons and 18 trophies in Spain... it’s been an incredible story but the last chapter is still to be written with Porto

• Real Madrid have announced that Iker Casillas has agreed move to Porto
• Casillas has spent 16 seasons with Madrid, winning 18 trophies on the way 
• The 34-year-old wants to play in next summer's European Championship  

By Pete Jenson for MailOnline

Published: 04:54 EST, 12 July 2015 | Updated: 09:32 EST, 12 July 2015

Standard-bearer and stopper supreme, Iker Casillas’ 16 seasons at Real Madrid have been a fairytale of 18 domestic trophies in 725 games for the club.  

It was back in November of 1997 when a 16-year-old Casillas was sat in a technical drawing class at his secondary school when officials from Real Madrid came knocking on the classroom door to interrupt the lesson. 

They needed him to put down his pencil, protractor and compass and fly to Norway where Real had a goalkeeper crisis because of injuries to Bodo Illgner and Santi Canizares ahead of a game with Rosenborg.

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Real Madrid have announced that legendary goalkeeper Iker Casillas has agreed a move to Porto

Madrid took to Twitter to post this graphic to thank Casillas for his service to the club

They needed the kid to sit on the bench and so began his relationship with a competition he would win three times, and with the team he would go on to captain.

‘I was taken to the headmaster, who by the way was a big Madrid fan, and before I knew it I was on a school minibus going home, where my mum was frantically packing my bag for me. 

The other kids had no idea why I had left the class and there was no Twitter or mobile phones to tell them what was happening,’ he told Sportsmail in an interview last year ahead of Real Madrid’s visit to Anfield in the Champions League.

The 34-year-old stopper lifts the Champions League trophy following Madrid's success in 2014

A young Casillas looks on as Pep Guardiola (centre) controls the ball during a Spain training session in 2000

Since joining Madrid as 16-year-old in 1997, Casillas has won 18 domestic trophies in 725 games for the club

It would be two years after that most unforgettable of ‘school trips’ that Casillas would finally make himself Madrid’s number one keeper. And from 1999 until 2012 he averaged 48 games a season in a career that would also see him become Spain's number one.

That incredible run at the Santiago Bernabeu stuttered under Jose Mourinho as the Portuguese coach asked the club to sign Diego Lopez from Sevilla in the winter transfer window of 2013 and left the legend on the bench.

‘If you ask me which goalkeeper I prefer: Iker Casillas or Diego Lopez? then I say Diego Lopez, it’s simple!’ said Mourinho when asked to explain his decision. 

Former Madrid boss Jose Mourinho (centre) favoured Diego Lopez over Casillias during his time in Spain

There were suggestions Mourinho did not take kindly to Casillas close relationship with Barcelona captain Xavi and that the goalkeeper’s television presenter girlfriend Sara Carbonero was seen as a potential source for dressing room leaks. But there were also solid football reasons why Mourinho wanted another keeper.

Casillas has always been a natural. No goalkeeping coach in the world could have trained the sort of bravery, reflexes and decision-making that saw him charge out of his goal in the 2010 World Cup final and win the duel with the advancing Arjen Robben to help ensure Spain kept a clean sheet ahead of Andres Iniesta’s injury time winner.

Perhaps that in-born brilliance made him less likely to respond to Mourinho’s goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro when he worked on Casillas’ aerial ability and strength. There has always been a tendency for Iker to remain on his line and let central defenders clear corners and free-kicks. If they couldn’t he would invariably bat the ball away spectacularly from close range.

Iker Casillas breaks down in tears in emotional farewell

Arjen Robben reacts after being thwarted by Casillas during the 2010 World Cup final 

Spanish defender Carles Puyol (right) celebrates after Casillas pulls off the stunning save against Holland

Changing his game and training harder to bulk up were alterations he never responded to and it was only when Mourinho left and Carlo Ancelotti reinstated him for European and Spanish Cup games did he get back among the medals.

The disruption had made him rusty and the mistakes have become more commonplace. One against Slovakia last year led to calls for David De Gea, who will replace him at the Bernabeu, to become Spain’s number one.

And there was another howler in the Champions League final in Lisbon which until Sergio Ramos’ injury time equaliser looked like costing Real Madrid the trophy.

Casillas (right) celebrates with his Real team-mates after their Champions League win in 2002

Casillas won three Champions League winner's medals and five La Liga titles during his time at Real Madrid

‘When it happens you stand there on the goal-line thinking about it and you want to leave your penalty area and try to get the equaliser yourself but you know you can’t. So you can imagine how I felt when Ramos’s header went in,’ he said.

‘One of the sad things about football is that people only remember the most recent thing you have done. My mistake allowed Atletico to take the lead. Winning a trophy is not about one game, it’s about the whole season and fighting to reach the final and my season in the competition had been very good but we had been in control of the game and an absurd moment from me looked like costing us the match.’

Real recovered and Casillas insisted that his pal Ramos lifted the trophy with him in what was to prove his last success on European soil.

In that interview with Sportsmail last year he still looked fresh-faced and full of enthusiasm and he told us he had every intention of playing on until his 40th birthday. It now seems he will be able to do that, but it will be back in Portugal where he won the last of his three European Cups, instead of in Spain.

The Spanish icon lifts the World Cup following Spain's 1-0 victory against Holland in 2010

Casillas has won everything there is to win for club and country, including the 2008 European Championship

The veteran goalkeeper will be hoping to push David de Gea all the way for the national No 1 spot

He wants to play in next summer’s European Championship in France and playing in the Champions League with Porto gives him the chance to push De Gea all the way for the national No 1 spot.

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque will be in frequent contact with his good friend Julen Lopetegui who will now manage Casillas at Porto. 

And after an incredible career at Madrid no one should bet against Casillas putting in the kind of performances in next season’s Champions League that keep him as Spain’s No 1. If the draw allows, he may even be able to shine against his old club or against former manager Mourinho if the Portuguese team are paired with Chelsea.

It’s been an incredible story and the last chapter is still to be written.

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