Casillas seeks €3.7m after Olival heart attack: “1 year left at Porto” | OneFootball

“It was a normal day. I dropped my children off at school and went to Olival for training. After 30 minutes of working out, I felt a strong pressure in my chest.” Iker Casillas recalled in court this Monday the acute myocardial infarction he suffered in May 2019 during an FC Porto training session.

Casillas is seeking 3.7 million euros from insurer Fidelidade and FC Porto, claiming he is unable to work.

At the Palace of Justice, the former footballer revisited the morning when everything happened. He arrived at Olival at around 9:30 a.m., had breakfast and then went to the gym. Later, on the pitch, at around 11:00 a.m., he began to feel the pain. “I couldn’t continue training and had to lie down,” he told the judge. The goalkeeper said in court that he was asked to “stay calm”, doctor Nelson Puga was called, and Casillas was eventually taken to Porto’s CUF hospital. “I was scared, I had difficulty breathing,” he said.

After the episode, the former FC Porto and Real Madrid player, now 45, completely changed his routine. “I go to the gym, I play padel, but I can’t run.” “The first week was absolute rest. After 10 days I started walking, but it was only after 7 months that I started to feel like myself again,” he explained.

As for the desire to return to playing football, Casillas, who was 37 at the time, told the judge that before the heart attack the goal was to “keep playing”. “I had a contract with FC Porto for one more year,” he said.

The insurer’s defense then questioned the former player about statements made at Web Summit in 2021, when he described the episode as having happened very quickly. The player’s lawyer objected to the question. Later, the goalkeeper’s participation in events such as Real Madrid Legends matches and padel competitions was also called into question. “They are friendly games, exhibition matches. They do not have the level and demands of professional football,” he said.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.