Kiko Casilla has been Marcelo Bielsa’s first choice goalkeeper at Leeds United, whenever he has been eligible for selection.
The 33-year-old arrived at Elland Road from Real Madrid in January 2019 and a lack of opportunities at the La Liga side was one of the reasons behind his decision to leave.
With football suspended due to the Covid-19 crisis, the Spaniard is concerned about the situation in England and in his homeland. He explained this during an interview with L’Esportiu.
“Well, it feels like we are living a dream, but it is the reality that we have to live. With one eye here, where I have my wife and children, and with the other in Alcover [Catalonia], where the family is and where we look with concern at everything that is going on,” he said.
“In the hope that it will end soon, we’re locked up at home, although here in England confinement is not as demanding. We can go out to the park, if you are a family you can go out together respecting the distance with the rest of the people.
“The problem is that this weekend, because of the good weather, I have the feeling that people have spent a little more time and that the measures can be more stringent, given that the number of infected people continues to grow.”
“English football had always caught my attention and when the opportunity came, I did not think much,” the keeper explained.
“In Madrid, in the end I played less, I lived well, but one always wants that feeling of playing every week and in Leeds I found myself in a spectacular league, with very high level footballers, packed stadium.
“It’s the second division, but it does not feel like it is. It could be compared with many leagues of first division, without a doubt.”
The custodian plays under the guidance of Bielsa, and Casilla talked about how the South American coach has had a positive impact at Leeds United.
Casilla explained about it in detail when he was asked if ‘Bielsa is what they say’. Responding to that, he said: “He’s a crack, very difficult to define. Bielsa is Bielsa.
“Speaking of him affectionately, there are days that you would kill him, but then you see how he prepares each week, how he analyses each game as if it were the last, and that is what the footballer notices.
“He knows a lot of football and, although his method is very demanding, he is tough, all of us at Leeds have improved a lot with him.
“It is worth the effort because you raise your head and you see that the team is attractive, that many teams do not stand the pace of play and physical.
“And this is a clear consequence of the work they have done, both he and his coaching staff, arriving at eight in the morning and leaving at eight in the evening.”
Casilla also had kind words for Leeds United supporters: “It’s a club that, being in second division, makes you feel like you are a great team.
“When we play in London during the week, which is a four-hour bus ride from Leeds, there are 3,000 or 4,000 fans who come with us. When we play one hour from Leeds and the entire stand behind the goal is full of fans and our stadium is packed every game.”
