Almost immediately after Zinedine Zidane replaced Rafa Benitez as Real Madrid coach yesterday, the Spanish press was awash with rumours that the Frenchman’s first order of business was to contact Iker Casillas and ask the once-exiled ‘keeper to return to the Bernabeu at the first available juncture.
Casillas was effectively hounded out of Real last season after fans turned on him due to a drop in form and doubts over his commitment to the cause, with the Spanish international ‘keeper opting to get the hell out of Dodge by joining Porto in the summer.
However, thanks to quotes initially picked up by the Cadena SER radio station, it appeared that Casillas had been offered an olive branch by Zizou, who had personally rung his old mucker to offer him a shock return.
There was only one issue with the sensational ‘prodigal son returns’ yarn really: the whole thing was a hoax, and not a very elaborate one at that.
Indeed, the quotes that Cadena SER were attributing to Zidane were actually from a French impersonator, who had successfully fooled Casillas and the entire Spanish press into thinking he was the new Real boss.
Tails between legs, Cadena SER were forced to make a slightly embarrassing amendment to their story.
“We must rectify the information we published about the call from Zidane to former Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas,” read a ‘rectification’ on the station’s website.
“The Cadena SER has learned some minutes ago that the call to the keeper came from an impressionist at a French outlet.”
Casillas also appeared to admit he’d been suckered in too, posting a video of a prank caller on his Twitter account shortly after the ‘story’ broke…
Marchando una de llamadas!! 😏😏https://t.co/g5Raq9DoVY
— Iker Casillas (@CasillasWorld) January 4, 2016
He also told Infosport he isn’t planning on heading back to Los Blancos any time soon: “I won’t return to Real Madrid, at least not until a lot more time has passed.”
That’s that then.