Kiko Casilla’s La Liga return is not going to plan 6 months after Leeds exit

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Quique Sanchez Flores was, not for the first time this season, indebted to his Getafe goalkeeper. 

David Soria’s late, 87th minute penalty stop to deny Spain international Raul de Tomas during Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Champions League-chasing Rayo Vallecano not only saved Getafe from certain defeat, it also saved Sanchez Flores’ job.  

Well, for the time being anyway.

“Soria gives another life to Quique Sanchez Flores,” writes La Vanguardia, with some justification. 

The former Watford boss has been hanging on by his fingernails for a while now at the Coliseum. And defeat to local rivals Vallecano might have been the final straw.  

Soria, meanwhile, is making a bit of a habit of this. Since the start of 2017/18, the former Sevilla glovesman has saved no fewer than 11 penalties in all competitions. Three in 2022/23 alone. Across the entirety of Europe’s major leagues, only Bochum’s Manuel Riemann can boast a better record (AS). 

Kiko Casilla left Leeds United for Getafe

So if former Real Madrid stopper Kiko Casilla was hoping that a return to the Spanish capital would bring about more regular match action, he was clearly not reckoning for Soria’s continued brilliance between the sticks. 

Casilla, a three-time Champions League winner at the Santiago Bernabau, saw his Leeds United contract terminated by mutual consent in July, joining Getafe less than two weeks later. The 36-year-old is still awaiting his first slice of league football since then, however; Casilla’s only appearances for the Azulones coming in the Copa del Rey. The former Spain international has conceded five times in just two games against lower league opposition too, Getafe bowing out early at the hands of Segunda outfit Levante. 

“Getafe has an ambition that I liked. You have to be prepared for whatever comes,” Casilla told Marca during his unveiling in August. 

“It’s clear that there is going to be very healthy competition (between us goalkeepers). We know what were are here for. The coach has to decide.”

Casilla, when signing on the dotted line, sounded like a man ready to fight for his place. Six months on, with every outstanding Soria save, it’s a fight he looks closer and closer to losing.