Prior to Euro 2012, there had been growing tensions in the dressing room among Spanish players who played for rival clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid; this led manager Vicente del Bosque to declare that any player who carried this hostility with them at international level would be dropped from the team.
As such, Casillas, Carles Puyol, and Xavi called a summit with the manager and the other Spanish players, in order to ease tensions; Casillas was praised in the media for his role in successfully uniting the dressing room.
On 1 July 2012, Casillas became the first player to reach 100 international wins for his country as Spain defeated Italy 4–0 in the Euro 2012 final, as Spain successfully defended their title to win their third consecutive major international trophy.
He also set another record with his 509 minutes without conceding a goal in that year's European Championship, keeping five consecutive clean sheets and breaking the longstanding tally of 494 minutes set by Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff.
The only goal he conceded, scored by Antonio Di Natale, came in Spain's opening match of the tournament, a 1–1 draw against eventual runners-up Italy.
Casillas then continued his new record unbeaten streak with Spain to 817 minutes, until it was finally broken by Olivier Giroud's injury-time goal on 16 October of that year, which came in a 1–1 home draw against France in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match.
Prior to Euro 2012, there had been growing tensions in the dressing room among Spanish players who played for rival clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid; this led manager Vicente del Bosque to declare that any player who carried this hostility with them at international level would be dropped from the team. As such, Casillas, Carles Puyol, and Xavi called a summit with the manager and the other Spanish players, in order to ease tensions; Casillas was praised in the media for his role in successfully uniting the dressing room. On 1 July 2012, Casillas became the first player to reach 100 international wins for his country as Spain defeated Italy 4–0 in the Euro 2012 final, as Spain successfully defended their title to win their third consecutive major international trophy. He also set another record with his 509 minutes without conceding a goal in that year's European Championship, keeping five consecutive clean sheets and breaking the longstanding tally of 494 minutes set by Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff. The only goal he conceded, scored by Antonio Di Natale, came in Spain's opening match of the tournament, a 1–1 draw against eventual runners-up Italy. Casillas then continued his new record unbeaten streak with Spain to 817 minutes, until it was finally broken by Olivier Giroud's injury-time goal on 16 October of that year, which came in a 1–1 home draw against France in a 2014 World Cup qualifying match.
Iker Casillas