Casillas is number one in every sense

Spain may have wowed the world over the last four years with their stylish passing football, but they would not be defending European, or World Cup, champions without [the interventions of keeper Iker Casillas.

They might not even be still at Euro 2012, if the Real Madrid and Spain captain had not pulled off an excellent flying stop from Croatia’s Ivan Rakitic on Monday when La Roja looked about to go 1-0 down to and close to an early exit.

“It was a good save, but not a great save,” said Casillas modestly afterwards. “It was just one more save to make sure we kept a clean sheet, which is what we always want to do.”