Player profile

Spain’s captain overhauled Raul’s tally of 102 caps in the World Cup warm-up against Saudi Arabia, putting him second on Spain’s all-time list behind fellow keeper Andoni Zubizarreta, who made 126 appearances.

Casillas, who already boasts the most international clean sheets, passing Zubizarreta’s record when he kept his 57th in September’s win over Estonia, led Spain to the Euro 2008 title, saving two penalties in the quarter-final shoot-out victory against Italy, and this will be his fifth successive major international tournament as first choice.

Blessed with outstanding reflexes, Casillas has been named as the world’s Goalkeeper of the Year for the last two seasons by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. Nonetheless, many observers believe his form has dipped in 2009/10.

Casillas has been part of the scene at hometown club Real Madrid for two, winning four league titles and the Champions League twice.

At the age of “seven or eight”, Casillas once forgot to post his father’s football pools coupon on the very weekend his dad had correctly predicted all 14 results. The family lost out on an estimated £1m.