real madrid cf's iker casillas will set a record for most uefa champions league games for a goalkeeper against ac milan but is more interested in giving the madrid fans "a good feeling".
real madrid cf goalkeeper iker casillas expressed his desire to "see all of ac milan's stars on the field" as the two giants of european football prepare to meet once more.
should the 29-year-old line up against the rossoneri on tuesday he will move ahead of oliver kahn as the uefa champions league's leading appearance holder for a goalkeeper, yet despite being on the verge of reaching such a milestone, milan's arrival in the spanish capital stirred bad memories for the fifa world cup winner.
"to be honest, against italian teams i have more bad memories than good," casillas confessed. "i remember losing a couple of ties against juventus over the years which hurt but statistics are there to be updated and tuesday against milan will see a very competitive game between great players."
going into the game on the back of three successive serie a victories will add to the confidence of a milan side who triumphed in the corresponding fixture at the santiago bernabéu last term. morale is also high among josé mourinho's group g leaders who have made an unbeaten start to the season, a record casillas wants to continue.
"we have a young team that's still in the construction stage but this game arrives at a good moment for us," he said. "we have more belief in ourselves and we would like to go a step further in terms of confidence. maybe you could say it's the first really 'big' game of the season against a side who, along with being well-established, have added some really formidable names. that said, i'm not worrying about their lineup, i'm more concerned that we play well and that our fans leave with a good feeling. as our coach said, it's one more game, not that those words stop it from being real madrid versus ac milan."
his position among the legends of madrid already established, casillas has also earned himself a place among the greats of the uefa champions league and the two-time competition winner was quick to thank the club who started him on the road to achieving so much success. "madrid have given me the chance to reach 104 champions league games on tuesday, something which might not have been possible with another team, especially after just 11 seasons but i'm still a long way off considering retirement."
