5 best backup goalkeepers in the world right now

#3 Kiko Casilla

Casilla has a better games-per-clean-sheet record than Keylor Navas

At one point last season, there was a section of the Real Madrid fan base that wanted Kiko Casilla to start over first-choice, Keylor Navas. It has to be said that those calls were not unfounded the Costa Rican went into somewhat of a Manuel Almunia mode during that period.

Navas, in his first season at Real Madrid, was exceptional and easily among the top five goalkeepers in the world. However, his form became very erratic last term and that’s when Kiko Casilla was being touted to replace him between the sticks.

The move didn’t happen though, but the former Espanyol number one did start quite a few games owing to Zidane’s rotations at the crunch part of last season. And he did very well. In fact, one could argue that Casilla’s ability to organise the defence is better than the former Levante man.

Fun fact: Kiko Casilla managed to keep five clean-sheets in the 11 league games last season, Navas managed the same in 27 outings.