#2 Iker Casillas – Real Madrid
When Mourinho was in charge of Real Madrid, the rivalry between the club and Barcelona reached an all-time low and El Clasicos were remembered more for incidents that sparked controversy rather than the football on the pitch. The poisonous atmosphere was only allowed to develop as more Clasicos were played when the big two in La Liga also met each other in the Champions League.
The enmity between the players of Real Madrid and Barcelona soon threatened to spill over into the Spanish national team and before a rift appeared in the world champions’ side, Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas decided to mend bridges and spoke to Xavi and Carles Puyol over the phone following another Clasico that had ended in a mass brawl.
“What I said to Xavi was 'look, if we keep going like this, we're going to burden Spanish football with the image we give with two teams like Madrid and Barcelona’,” Casillas explained.
“I was the captain of Real Madrid but also of Spain. Everyone can believe what they want. I have a club I owe but I also have a national team.”
The phone call did not sit too well with Mourinho and the furious Portuguese boss soon benched the club legend in favour of Diego Lopez.
“Would I do anything differently if I had the chance to do the past three years over again? I should have brought in Diego Lopez after my first year,” Mourinho said. “We didn`t do enough to sign him. It`s a real shame.
“They hired me to be a soccer coach and a soccer coach has certain responsibilities, one of which is to pick the team. For me, I like Diego Lopez better as a goalkeeper than Iker Casillas.”
