Mourinho disapproved of Xavi-Casillas friendship
Iker Casillas, Real Madrid
The two players have enjoyed a good friendship since their teen years but also led to tension between the Real Madrid goalkeeper and the Portuguese coach.
Nevertheless, Mourinho denied any rift between him and Casillas in March saying: “"There is no story with Casillas. I have no problems with him."
However, according to Xavi’s father the reason was the close friendship with a member of their biggest rivals Barcelona.
"Iker got into a lot of trouble with Mourinho over his friendship with Xavi,” the Barcelona star’s father told Com Radio.
“These problems became public last season and everybody knows about it. Xavi and Iker never had any intention to end their friendship.
"If it weren't for Xavi, Casillas and Vicente del Bosque, Spain would not have come this far. The Clasicos led to difficult moments. Relationships between players who used to be friends were about to go sour.
"There were issues with [Alvaro] Arbeloa, Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos among others. The behaviour of some players wasn't appropriate. Luckily Iker and Xavi then got involved."
When Spain started the 2012 European Championship campaign there were reports of disharmony within the camp, but there were no signs of it on the field as the defeated Italy 4-0 in the final to defend the title.
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