Iker Casillas Deny Claims He Has Retired From Football

FC Porto goalkeeper Iker Casillas has denied claims in the Portuguese media that he’s decided to end his playing career.

Portuguese newspaper O Jogo claimed on Friday morning that Casillas had decided to call it a day after suffering a heart attack earlier this month.

The Real Madrid fell victim to acute myocardial infarction during a training session at Porto on May 1. He was immediately submitted to the hospital for emergency surgery to have a heart catheterization.

Casillas soon returned to a stable condition and was able to be discharged from the hospital just five days later.

Now the Spaniard, who will celebrate his 38th birthday next Monday, has assured fans his playing days haven’t ended just yet.

“Retire? There’ll come a day when I have to retire. Let me announce that news when the moment comes,” Casillas wrote on Twitter .

“For now, relax. I had an appointment with Dr Filipe Macedo yesterday and everything’s going well. Now that is great news I wanted to share.”

Prior to his heart attack, Casillas had made 42 appearances in all competitions for Porto this season.

Despite his advancing years, the Spanish keeper leads the way in the Primeira Liga clean sheets tally with 18 in his 31 games. Sporting Braga’s Tiago Sa and Benfica’s Odysseas Vlachodimos are his closest challengers on 15 each.

Vana Alves will likely deputise for Casillas in goal for Porto’s two final games of the season.

For Saturday, Sergio Conceicao’s side need a victory over Sporting Lisbon to stand any chance of overhauling Benfica for the league title. They currently find themselves two points behind ahead of this weekend’s finale.

Porto will then meet Sporting again for the Portuguese Cup final on May 25.