Mourinho Drops Casillas For His Final Match

[Folami David]

Jose Mourinho has decided to bow out as coach of Real Madrid with controversy rather than reconciliation, leaving out club and national captain Iker Casillas from the squad for the final league game at home to Osasuna later Saturday.
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Mourinho has been locked in an acrimonious feud with Casillas since December, reportedly because he believed that the veteran goalkeeper was leaking confidential dressing-room information to his journalist girlfriend, who was then publishing it.
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The Portuguese coach sensationally dropped Casillas for a crucial game at Malaga in December, claiming that understudy Antonio Adan, 26, was in a "much better physical condition" than the 32 year-old veteran.
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Mourinho was rewarded with a shaky display from Adan, and a 3-2 defeat which left the whites far behind runaway leaders Barcelona.
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Even so, Casillas, who is generally considered to be the No 1 keeper in the world, was kept on the bench for league matches, to the astonishment of a country that idolized him for leading Spain to their first World Cup triumph and two Euro victories. It was the first time he had been dropped since 2002.
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Casillas was relegated to playing in the Spanish cup, and broke a finger in his left hand at Valencia. He was out of action for two months, without Mourinho showing any sympathy or solidarity for him.
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Mourinho urged the club to sign Diego Lopez, 31, who was the reserve at Sevillla, to take Casillas' place in the squad.
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Lopez was then picked ahead of Adan and made a good start, helping Real to reach the semifinals of the Champions League.
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He continued between the posts after Casillas recovered his fitness, but then looked slow and error-prone in the Champions defeat against Borussia Dortmund and, especially, in the Spanish cup final defeat at home to Atletico Madrid.
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Most of the media and fans believe that Real would not have lost to Dortmund and Atletico with Casillas in goal - or with Pepe in defence.