Real Madrid Goalkeeper Kiko Casilla Defends Rival Shot-Stopper Keylor Navas Amid Recent Criticism

Real Madrid goalkeeper Kiko Casilla has leapt to the defence of fellow shot-stopper Keylor Navas, claiming that the criticism he has received has been unwarranted.

Navas, 30, has failed to keep a clean-sheet in four of his last five appearances and as a result head coach Zinedine Zidane dropped him for Casilla against Espanyol this weekend.

Casilla kept a clean-sheet as Los Blancos won 2-0 with goals fromAlvaro Morata and Gareth Bale, however, in truth Espanyol struggled to test the goalkeeper over 90 minutes.

"Keylor Navas does not deserve the criticism he has received," Casilla told Marca.com, as quoted byGoal.

"Goalkeepers are at the front of everything and if we thought about everything that was written and said, we couldn't live.

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"I know my responsibility and the cup games were where I was going to play but when you are involved you feel happy and active.

"You always expect to play but when you have been on the bench for so long and you are told it is your time then you feel a mixture of surprise and joy, it was a special match for me."

"At 1-0 it was danger because a mistake or a counter-attack could hurt you but with the second goal we put to bed the risk of strange things happening."

Real Madrid lead at the top of La Liga now stands at one point, but they do have two games in-hand on arch-rivals Barcelona.