Legendary goalkeeper Iker Casillas has explained why he left the Anfield pitch in tears after producing one of the greatest performances of his stellar career.
The World Cup winning Spanish custodian retired from football last year after a five year spell with FC Porto, which saw him break records for the most Champions League appearances and clean sheets.
He will always be associated with Real Madrid however, where he came through the ranks as a youngster and won three Champions League and five La Liga titles among a host of other honours in a 510-game playing career for the Spanish giants spanning 16 years.
Casillas's Porto swansong saw him twice receive warm ovations from the Anfield crowd when appearing against Liverpool in the 2018 and 2019 Champions League knockout stages, many of who would have remembered the stunning personal performance he had put in against the Reds a decade earlier.
And in an interview with the New York Times, Casillas revealed his recollections of that game in March 2009 which he admits had him leaving the pitch with tears in his eyes.
Rafa Benitez's side went into the Champions League last 16 second leg tie with a 1-0 lead thanks to Yossi Benayoun's header in the Estadio Bernabeu three weeks earlier.
Liverpool would record a handsome 4-0 victory on the night to progress to the quarter-finals but the club's record win of 11-0 against Norwegians Stromsgodset in a 1974 European Cup Winners Cup tie could have been under threat had it not been for a remarkable display of goalkeeping by Casillas who produced a string of brilliant saves to keep out the rampant Reds that night.
A few days before journalist Rory Smith conducted the NY Times interview, Casillas had retweeted a video from UEFA’s official Champions League account which included a montage of his performance at Anfield that night and with the footage showing he left the pitch in tears, the goalkeeper admitted he knew that Liverpool "could have scored 12” and said he felt a lot of responsibility.
“It was a face of powerlessness, not rage,” he said.
“I was frustrated, sad. It meant it was seven years since Real had reached the final.
"You can lose a knockout game. We lost the first leg, 1-0. But to lose, 4-0?
"All of the Real fans in Liverpool, all of the fans around the world — I felt their frustration.”
