The Castilla days
Once upon a time, there was a school of thought going around the footballing world that the best way to the Real Madrid first XI is not via the Castilla, rather, Barcelona breed them and Florentino Perez used to buy them.
Courtesy of Real Madrid's Galacticos, mind-warping revenue figures, Florentino Perez and the rivalling La Masia, such a perception has persisted, regardless of its accuracy.
But the 2013-13 Castilla was bursting the myth that had been established.
From the 2012-13 academy batch, Jese, Nacho, Denis Cheryshev, Lucas Vazquez and Casemiro have all found their way into Rafa Benitez's Real Madrid squad, and one of the boys named Casemiro would experience a short period in Santiago Bernabeu under Benitez.
Casemiro was loaned to FC Porto in 2014, in a season-long loan.
He totalled 41 games overall for the Portuguese side, scoring four goals, including a free-kick in 2015 in a 4–0 home win over FC Basel in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.
Three months later he returned to Real Madrid and scored his first competitive goal for the Merengues, heading home an 89th-minute corner kick by Jese in a 2–1 victory at UD Las Palmas.
Change of fortune
By then, Real Madrid, the champions of 2013-14, were a total mess in 2014-15 and with half the season gone, Benitez and his tactics came under severe criticism with Perez being forced to sack him and appoint Zinedine Zidane on an experimental basis for the rest of 2015-16 season.
Zidane organized the midfield by injecting Casemiro along with Luka Modric and Toni Kroos.
Zidane fully realised that the collapse of the galacticos began with Claudio Makelele’s departure and their mention of him has Casemiro beaming.
“Makelele is one who invented this position,” Casemirio staed in an interview with the Guardian.
“Him, Mauro Silva, Dunga. Gilberto Silva was another. There was a period teams played with two, but it’s mostly one pivot again now. I watch videos of them: they developed this position. Zidane is a specialist: he knows every player’s importance. But Makelele wouldn’t have been as important without Zidane. Or me without Toni [Kroos] or Luka [Modric]. Fede [Federico Valverde] now, or Isco.”
In the El Clasico of 2015-16 - Zidane put Casemiro in front of the defence as a pure pivot and mark the dynamic Lionel Messi. On that night, Casemiro had put Messi in his pocket and in the coming years, Messi would not be able to overcome the sharpness and quality of Casemiro, who would establish himself as the best defensive midfielder in the world.
And since then, in 22 games vs Messi: 4 goals (only two from open play). Last 12 games 0 G/A for Messi.
In the meantime, the trio of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Casemiro developed as one of the best midfield trio in the history of football - The Burmuda Triangle had started together in 10 finals for Real Madrid - and Real Madrid won all 10, which is a staggering achievement.
Talk about impact, Casemiro had the most at the centre of the park that was vital to the glory of the Los Blancos.
The Tank was comfortable defending near his box and was crucial in covering his teammates and recovering with excellent timing.
When he had the ball, Casemiro never complicated himself and did what was needed to do - pass it fine or keep it safe - delivering to Modric or Kroos was the solution and let the match move forward.
Zidane asked Casemiro to go forward when required, taking the role of an offensive midfielder, equalling his best goalscoring efforts last season.
“That’s Zizou. He’s very insistent; he always, always says: ‘Case, you can do more: arrive from the second line, feed midfielders, bring the ball out cleanly.’ This (2019-20) year, maybe I’ve had more protagonism with the ball, but I still know my job: rob the ball, give it to my teammates. But Zizou is pesado, heavy going: always talking to me, wanting more. He says: ‘I’m not asking you to do something you can’t do; I’m asking you to do something you can.’ He trusts me a lot.”
Casemiro has powerful shooting abilities and is a great header of the ball - Real reaped a rich harvest for those qualities.
Casemiro is a footballer who is a different breed
He once told Jorge Valdano that he fights for every ball as if it were “a plate of food.”
Casemiro’s mother Magda, a cleaner, brought him, his sister Bianca and his brother Lucas up alone.
They were poor, there wasn’t always enough food and their tiny home was cramped, forcing him to spend nights with his grandparents or stay with teammates to sleep properly before playing.
Casemiro recalls Nilton Moreira, who ran the club a six-mile walk away, paying fees he couldn’t: about €3. Being given boots and food. And how joining São Paulo meant finally getting fed properly. “Football,” he says, “is an escape valve, a way of achieving something in life.”
“That’s especially true in Brazil where maybe we have more difficulties in education and culture,” he says, “but it’s not only there.”
“Everything I am is because of my mum, because of football. I was fortunate to find a way thanks to football: my friends didn’t have that luck. Knowing how hard it was is why I do everything from the heart, 200%.”
“Casemiro does the work others won’t,” Sevilla’s Brazilian midfielder Fernando told El País.
The Guardian reports: ”There’s the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, electric recovery boots, extreme abstinence, and morning sessions before training – teammate Rodrygo says Casemiro is always dragging him to the gym – together with constant videos and analysis: good decisions are not guesswork, nor are they all intuition.”
Rafa Benítez called him a “listener.”
Julen Lopetegui describes him as “a joy to coach”, whose “secret is the desire to improve, his willingness to adapt”. It is born perhaps of awareness that he may not be a natural virtuoso, some sense maybe that his place is at the service of others: he describes his role as “filling gaps, helping teammates”.
It is manifest in his performances. When he arrived in Madrid, he didn’t look that good. He didn’t look this good, anyway.”
“I love to learn. I watch back, see the errors, and evaluate. I love that. People say I think like a coach. I always try to read the game, the other team’s mind, their coach, and what they’re trying to do. Often the smallest details – a metre either way – change everything. I have [football analytics platform] Wyscout and watch everything, from China or anywhere. My wife gets annoyed. It’s my work. There’s a time for everything but it’s my job. And I love it. My life is football. I have to think permanently about football,” said Casemiro.
“It’s not the legs, it’s the mind that’s in charge. You have to be strong, and aggressive: I like challenges, and contact. But you play with your head; I always thought the key was thinking: being better positioned, seeing the move before it happens.”
The midfield and defence of Real Madrid always had breathed easy when Casemiro had been around.
His decision to part ways with Real Madrid will be a blow for the Los Blancos who might have Fede Valverde, Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni; but it would take time for them to fill the gap of Casemiro.
With less quality around him in the Brazilian midfield, he had to put a lot more effort to be influential and his absence literally killed Brazil at Kazan.
That could be a problem with Manchester United when faced with teams that press higher and if Casemiro is expected to drive with the ball and becomes the key figure bringing the ball forward - lack of quality in the midfield and back.
With the World Cup in Qatar knocking at the door, this move might strain the preparations a bit for Brazil because of the heavy workload for a club that is in tatters, but the show must go on.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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