Casillas' future takes spotlight against Galatasaray

Madrid, Nov 26 (IANS) With Cristiano Ronaldo out, the spotlight will be on Iker Casillas‘ future as Real Madrid face Galatasaray at home in Wednesday’s Champions League football match.

Spanish press Tuesday raised doubts on Casillas’ future at the club, reports Xinhua.

Spanish sports paper Diario AS insists that Casillas will be on his way to Manchester City before long and the goalkeeper himself did little to quell the rumour Tuesday with an enigmatic message on Twitter, promising “interesting” news in the near future.

With England international Joe Hart out of favour at the Ethiad Stadium, Manchester City are in the market for a big name keeper, and Casillas, who is currently substitute in the league for Madrid, could fit the bill perfectly.

Real Madrid have already assured their place in the last 16 of the Champions League, but need one point from their last two games to guarantee the top finish of their qualifying group and thus avoid a slightly tougher draw in the knockout phase.

Galatasaray travel to the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium with memories of the six goals Madrid put past them in Istanbul still fresh in their mind.

But the Turkish side also knows that if they can take a point it would keep their hopes of qualifying for the next stage, given that Juventus are struggling in the group and Real Madrid still have to play Copenhagen.

They will take comfort in the fact that Ronaldo will miss the game, although the sight of 40,000 fans wearing Ronaldo facemasks in support of his bid to win the Balon D’Or, may be a slightly off putting sight.

It will be interesting to see how Madrid fare without Ronaldo in the starting 11 and the absence of the Portuguese striker will pass more protagonism to Gareth Bale, who could see more of the ball.

But the game will also be about Iker Casillas. Just over a month ago, he said he would have to think about his position at the club unless his position changed.

With the transfer window opening in just over a month, he is still watching league games from the dugout and the Wednesday’s game may be his penultimate appearance for the club.