Iker Casillas is hoping that Real Madrid can emulate the likes of Manchester United and Celtic by winning a historic treble this term.
For all their success down the years, the Spanish giants have never managed a clean sweep of both domestic trophies and the Champions League in the same season.
However, under the shrewd guidance of Carlo Ancelotti, Los Blancos are three points clear at the top of La Liga, into the final of the Copa del Rey and strong favourites to advance to the Champions League quarter-finals at the expense of Schalke.
Casillas has won almost every club trophy available since making his debut for Real in 1999 and also captained Spain to two European Championship wins (2008 and 2012) and World Cup glory in 2006.
But the legendary stopper is hungry for more silverware and is desperate to see Madrid join a seven-strong band of treble-winning teams that includes United’s class of 1999 and Celtic’s 1967 ‘Lisbon Lions’.
“I’d like the last piece of news for this season to say that Real Madrid had won the treble,” said Casillas.
“That on May 24th, Real Madrid won the first treble in its history.
“We know it is difficult because there are other teams that also want to win titles.
“But we are where we want to be right now, which is fighting in all three competitions.”
In an exclusive interview with bwin, which you can watch by opening the player at the top of this page, Casillas also discusses the favourite moment of his career, who he considers to be Schalke’s danger man, his love of padel, and more.
Real Madrid are currently priced at 2/5 to build a first-leg lead over the Bundesliga side in Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday night, with the draw available at 15/4 and the hosts rated as 23/4 outsiders.
In addition to United and Celtic, the five other teams to have won the treble are Ajax (1972), PSV (1988), Barcelona (2009), Inter Milan (2010) and Bayern Munich (2013).
