What We're Reading
Why Casillas didn't celebrate
- Marca, Friday, September 21, 2012 3:10 AM
Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas didn't celebrate any of his team's goals during its 3-2 Champions League win over Manchester City on Tuesday because just a few hours before
the game, he heard about the death of a Polish boy, Dawid Zapisek, whom he met during the European Championship last summer.
It had been the 14-year-old Zapisek's dream of
meeting Casillas in person. Zapisek, who suffered from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, decorated his room with pictures of Spain's goalkeeper. The boy said after meeting Casillas that he'd managed to do
the last thing he wanted to "before dying in peace."
The keeper expressed his grief on Facebook: "My most sincere condolences to his family. Rest in peace, my friend."
TVE
cameras captured video of Iker's silence after the last-minute winning goal by Cristiano
Ronaldo.
Casillas is special--and for more reasons than one. This goes to show that soccer is... more than just a game.
By the way, I also heard something about a statue being stolen from Iker's hometown church or his grandmother's hometown church? He is, if you pay very close attention, a rather spiritual dude. The death of the Polish boy, along with the theft of the statue(s), clearly affected him.