Casillas talks down Catalan XI

Real Madrid shot-stopper Iker Casillas has poured scorn on Barcelona’s celebration of an all Catalan XI.

Tito Vilanova was able to field a team made up entirely of home-grown players for an hour in the recent 4-0 win away to Levante, which led to widespread praise for the Camp Nou club.

Casillas, though, remained unimpressed and recalled a time when Barcelona had virtually no youth products coming through.

“Barca cannot go around bragging that they have produced 11 canteranos,” Casillas told La Sexta.

“I also remember Barcelona of 11 or 12 years ago, when the team practically had no canteranos. This goes in spurts, they are stages.

“Of course, it is what they have in mind now, and it is the slogan that they want to communicate most, but a few years ago, they didn’t have canteranos; (Carles) Puyol, Xavi and a few others.”

The Spain shot-stopper also believes that such is Real Madrid’s worldwide appeal, it is not possible for them to field their best team from an XI comprised of Madrid natives.

He added: “At Madrid, of course I would like to see people from Madrid at the club, but Madrid is such an important club that wants the best players on the planet to play for them, and sometimes the best have to come from outside.

“We have a cantera admired by every corner of Spain and the world and, in that respect, we don’t have anything to be jealous of, because our players are spread all over the world.”

Jose Mourinho’s side sit third in La Liga and trail the Blaugrana by 11 points.