Jose Mourinho has many rivals in football, but one of his biggest fights was with one of his former players, Iker Casillas. Find out what destroyed their relationship.
Read: Casillas Reveals What Happened When He Saw Mou
It was a phone call by Casillas to his national teammate Xavi Hernandez, one of his oldest friends in the game, that did it. The goalkeeper contacted Xavi after both had clashed in an ugly El Clasico brawl during the Spanish Super Cup in 2011.
The Real Madrid man was reportedly angry when the conversation started but changed his tone when Xavi told him both sides had to think about the way they were behaving.
"Iker deserves a lot of credit," Xavi said in a recent interview with Marca. "He called me and (Carles) Puyol. I told him that both sides had to look at themselves. He was looking out for the interests of Spanish football."
Mourinho was apparently furious when he heard about the phone call and reportedly saw it as Casillas going behind his back and against his philosophy.
In his book The Special One, prominent Spanish football journalist Diego Torres wrote: "There was a feeling that Mourinho saw him (Casillas) as a grass, a mole, a traitor and an egoist."
Casillas, of all people, a Real legend, club captain and one of the longest-serving players, had now become a back-stabber in Mourinho's eye.
What made things worse was when Casillas said, in an interview, that he identified more with the values of former FC Barcelona boss and Mourinho rival Pep Guardiola, than with those of the Portuguese.
Ahead of his third season at the club, Mourinho urged Real's bosses to buy a new keeper, and he dropped Casillas in December when his team was 11 points behind Barcelona.
However, Casillas had to return after his replacement, reserve keeper Antonio Adan, was sent off in his third game. But when the national team captain broke a bone in his hand later that season, Mourinho finally got his new shot-stopper in Diego Lopez.
"Just as Casillas can say he would prefer another coach such as (Vicente) Del Bosque or (Manuel) Pellegrini, I can say that I prefer Diego Lopez," he said at the time.
"And while I'm the coach of Madrid, Diego Lopez will play."
Casillas would only regain his starting spot after Mourinho left the club, when Carlo Ancelotti took over. However, his relationship with the fans was broken as half the fans stood by him while the others continuously jeered him.
Read: Furious Buffon Slams Casillas Booing
"I never spoke publicly about him at the time and I don't think I ever will," Casillas said of the Portuguese tactician ahead of this week's Champions League clash between Chelsea and Porto, where they shook hands.
"People know how it was. In the end, we just did not have a good relationship."
Note: This is a rewrite of an article published in the Daily Mail.
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