Kiko Casilla, Elche goalkeeper, will live this Saturday a “very special and strange” game due to its marked past parakeet. Espanyol is measured being the holder under the sticks after landing this summer at the Elche, where you want to be happy again and enjoy yourself to forget its passage through the Premier. He admits having had a “very bad time” and it hurts when he remembers the bitter incident due to some alleged racist insults that resulted in a very harsh sanction.
Kiko believes that neither Elche nor Espanyol should suffer to maintain the category and does not hesitate to assure that De Tomás is ready to go to the national team and that Diego López’s work “is admirable and a mirror for me. “On Saturday he will fight against Espanyol, a club where he would love to hang up his boots” because I will always be one more parakeet.
– How have you lived your return to LaLiga after passing through the Premier?
– I am very happy to return to the League and to have returned to Spain, because when you have been away for a while you miss it. The truth is that I am very happy to return to this championship and I have not noticed many changes compared to when I left.
– This Saturday comes the game against Espanyol, one of their former teams. What feelings do you have 24 hours after measuring the parrots?
– When you face a former team where you have felt very loved and have been very happy, it is logical that it is a special match for me, a strange and special match. Everyone knows that I will always be one more parakeet and I am going to wish them all the luck in the world but starting at 8 pm on Saturday. It is very special because of everything I experienced at Espanyol.
– Did you suffer a lot with the relegation of Espanyol? How did you experience it from afar, both the fall and its meteoric rise?
It is not easy to go down after so many years that he did not go to Second. And then going down and up so fast the following year is not easy either, far from it, it is worthy of praise. Many players had not been to Second and if you have not been there, if you do not control it, it is a complicated category. I think that both Vicente Moreno and the club made a perfect structure to be able to climb, together with experienced players. I think it was not suffered to tie the ascent.
– He coincided with Raúl de Tomás at Real Madrid. What do you think of your role at Espanyol? Are you knocking on the doors of the national team?
– We met in Madrid and he is a great boy, I really appreciate him. Raúl is showing that he can go to the national team now. Since he returned from Benfica he has been doing a great job and I think it is one of the options that Luis Enrique has, without a doubt. Raúl is showing it, like other strikers in Spanish football, there is a lot of level.
– – What do you think when you see the high level that Diego López is approaching when he is about to turn 40?
– Age is just a number. Diego is showing that he has been and is one of the best goalkeepers. I’m very happy for him because he deserves everything. At that age and being at that tremendous level is admirable. And for me it is a mirror to reflect on.
– Another former team of yours, Real Madrid, do you see him as the main candidate to be proclaimed league champion?
– They are going to dispute the title between the three. There are weeks when you see that one is better than the other, but all have left points along the way. That makes it such a competitive league. It is clear that Madrid, because of the players it has, is a clear candidate and I hope that it will take the title.
– Does having Benzema give this Madrid a favoritism?
– It has been at a very high level for a few years and I am not going to find out. Now that there is so much talk about the Ballon d’Or, I think they should give it to Karim, not only for the goals he has now but for his entire career.
– – Will Elche and Espanyol suffer for maintaining the category?
– I hope neither of us ends up suffering but all this has just begun and a lot can happen. In Elche we will do everything possible to have a calm and good year. And I hope that Espanyol does not suffer because it has a template so that it does not happen. Many new players have arrived at Elche and the coach is trying to get us to synchronize. There is a lot of desire to do it well and a very interesting project behind it.
– – Happy to have chosen the Elche option?
– I’m really happy. From day one, Elche was my first choice for the project and for the desire I had to return and they wanted me to come here. Everything went well for it to come together and I am very happy and enjoying football again.
– Willing to return after his experience in the Premier, at Leeds. Will he fulfill his remaining contract year?
– It will be difficult for me to fulfill the year I have left. When I left there it was because of that, because my time there is over. I think I will not have problems with the club because they behaved very well with me because I asked to leave and they never put any impediment on me, but they gave me all the facilities and that is appreciated. When you have a bad time there, I have been through it a lot and that is clear, in the end what you want is to leave and I have been able to leave.
– – The penalty for the incident in which he was accused of uttering racist insults still hurts
– It hurts because when you don’t do something and they cross you out of it, it hurts a lot. It is hard and more in a country that is not yours and that you cannot defend yourself as you would like. In the end you pay a little for the broken dishes of perhaps the fact that the League should set an example. Being sanctioned without being able to prove anything is complicated and unfair. And it was very hard. You have to abide by it and when they come wrong, lean on yours and that’s it.
– Is it going through your head to retire at Espanyol?
– The first dream was to return to Spain and help and enjoy Elche as much as possible. In the future it is not known but I will not hide the love I have for Espanyol and of course I would like to return in the future. Now I only think of Elche.