Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas has revealed his admiration for Chelsea's Petr Cech.
Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas has revealed his admiration for Petr Cech, describing the Chelsea shotstopper as 'perfect'.
Casillas first came up against Cech in the UEFA Champions League six years ago and says he realised he was a special talent instantly.
"I could not overlook him," he said in an interview with MF Dnes. "He was already absolutely focused at that time."
The Spain international believes he is heading down the same route as Cech, but admits the Chelsea man is constantly improving.
"We are following a similar course, but Cech now has more trophies than me.
"I don't know him personally, but he looks serious, concentrated, professional and cool. He has great reflexes and he generally gets better and better with every year. I like his style of goalkeeping.
"He is perfect - one of the best goalkeepers in the world. And he looks nice in the helmet he plays with now."
Casillas saw footage of the incident that left Cech with a fractured skull, and believes keepers should be given more protection.
"It was very dangerous. Goalkeepers are not protected enough from various tackles."
He revealed he has the most respect for the keepers who have stayed at the top of their game for extended periods, and aims to rank himself among the game's greats.
"(I admire) those who are on top on a long-term basis. It is extremely difficult to stay at the top level.
"(Gianluigi) Buffon, (Oliver) Kahn, Cech and (Edwin) Van der Sar - hopefully I can put myself among the best ones."
And he believes he can achieve everything he wants at the Bernabeu.
"I have a lot of motivation. Without it, I will be written off. At that moment, I will end my career, and I believe I will end it at Real."
He is refusing to completely rule out a move away, however.
"Who knows what will happen next? In football, you can never say never. If so, I would try to play in the USA for the last half year. Not because of money, but because of English and of having a new experience.
"But, as you know, Madrid is my city. If I stay at Real for the rest of my life, I will be happy."
