Iker Casillas Demonstrates Amazing Memory Skills, Recalls Scorers From Games He Played In 14 Years Ago (Video)

Chris Wright

17th, December 2014

1 Comment

By Chris Wright

Spain Soccer Champions League

“82, 82, 82…246 toothpicks, total”

Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is Real Madrid’s answer to Rain Man, Iker Casillas put on a clinic of memory skills recently when challenged by club staff to recall scores and scorers from games (chosen at random) that he played in some 14-odd years ago.

By his own calculations, Casillas can vividly remember around 98% of the games he’s played in and once you consider the man has made over 700 appearances for Real over the years, yo begin to get a sense of his phenomenal powers of recollection.

The video that Real have slapped up on Youtube is entirely in Spanish and comes with some fairly godawful auto-translated English subtitles, so we recommend you check out the version of the club’s website which is captioned properly.

Poor old Fernando Hierro. He never stood a chance.

Amazing.

Posted in Newsnow, Real Madrid, Videos

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  1. ChrisCan says:

    This coming from a Spanish speaker… it’s truly savant-like memory. To recall scores and goal scorers from matches chosen from a pool of 700+ in his career is remarkable, and (what may be lost on non-Spanish speakers) it doesn’t seem to require much focus or energy on his part. He just recalls them as if they happened last week. He even gets the Lazio match away in Europe several years ago that he didn’t even play in.

    However, I think part of this sort of recall comes with being a goalkeeper. I’m a goalkeeper and sometimes astound people by remembering scores of old games I played in (as well as who scored, what types of goals, the weather, etc.). I think keepers just watch the match from the back and take it all in in a very different way that an outfield player. Conceding a goal is very visceral and emotional and that intense feeling makes for a strong and lasting memory.

    Inversely, you can always see your team getting one at the other end, meaning you’re pretty much never involved in the play at that point, so you can almost always form a complete picture in your memory of what the goal looked like from a straight-on angle. Add to that the elation of your team scoring and it is once again a recipe for a lasting recollection.

    Any other keepers out there share this though?

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