Farewell to two football legends

[flywoman]

This year, two of my favorite players are leaving their childhood clubs behind. Iker Casillas Fernandez, age 34, has been a goalkeeper for the first team at Real Madrid since 1999 and team captain for five years. Xavi Hernandez Creus, age 35, made his first team debut as a midfielder for FC Barcelona in 1998 and was captain this past season, when

Comments

[flywoman]

That's Xavi - the man who says what needs sayin'.

I definitely appreciate that Iker refused to make his Spain NT teammates "the enemy" under Mou and that this was threatening to his manager's ego/authority. And yes, of course, Iker is a true gentleman. The way he asked the fans at his presser to remember him, not as a good player but as a good person, just broke my heart.

I knew that Real Madrid had unfollowed Iker from Twitter after his presser - just shows who has all of the class in this situation, doesn't it? They don't call him Saint Iker for nothing. I had not heard that Ronaldo unfollowed him - I bet that Sergio was loyal, though!

I was sad when Puyol retired, but I was also okay with it because his body had taken so much punishment over the years and was just giving out on him. It's worse when two players I love who still have a lot to give their clubs decide to move on for other reasons (especially in Iker's case). But I know that Xavi will come back to Barcelona one day for sure. And I hope that Iker is happy wherever he ends up, bless his madridista heart.

[anna_king]

Hey, we are discussing over at Hala_Madrid whether or not Puyi and Valdes were treated well when leaving the club? Another Barca fan said that apparently they didn't get the same appreciation that Xavi did? Do you know anything about that?

(And good on Xavi...I am so glad he's brutally honest all the time. He's such a great guy and yes, I am sure he will come back to Barca and be welcomed back at that. With Iker I'm less sure...I know he'll come back or visit at some stage but while he is playing at Porto I will have this fear that he will have to play against Madrid. That would kill him for sure...)

[flywoman]

Hmm. I hope other people on my f-list weigh in, but I would definitely agree that the club did not make such a big deal about either of them leaving - whether that was the way they wanted it or not, I don't know. Actually, I strongly suspect that Valdes left because he was disgusted by current management, so maybe that's not so surprising in his case. And Puyi was going to come back as part of the sporting directorship, but when Zubizarreta was fired, he quit in protest. So maybe their political situations were more similar to that of Casillas.

[anna_king]

I hope you don't mind if I copy some of this into the discussion we're having over there...interesting. I always assumed Barca would have been different but I guess Xavi did leave on a high note, it may very well have been different for the others.