Iker Casillas picked Paul Scholes & Ryan Giggs when asked to name his greatest ever XI

Iker Casillas is one of the greatest goalkeepers we’ve ever had the privilege to watch.

For well over a decade at Real Madrid and with the Spain national team, ‘San Iker’ performed to a world-class standard.

The great man finished his career with five La Liga titles, three Champions Leagues, two European Championships and a World Cup to his name, a trophy haul any player would be proud of.

He really was an absolute colossus between the posts in his prime and it’s hard to think of many better pure shot stoppers.

Casillas still holds the record for the most clean sheets in Champions League history and is also one of only a select few players to feature in over 1,000 professional matches.

To say the Spaniard is a footballing legend would be something of an understatement and he would certainly feature in many greatest XIs.

But who would Casillas select if he were asked to pick a greatest XI?

Well, the ex-Real Madrid ‘keeper previously selected a team and it’s safe to say there were a few rogue shouts from him.

Manchester United legends Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs made the cut, as did Pavel Nedved.

But there was no place for Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Pele or Diego Maradona…

The XI: Gianluigi Buffon, Matthias Sammer, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Lothar Matthaus, Paul Scholes, Pavel Nedved, Ruud Gullit, Ryan Giggs, Marco van Basten, Ronaldo Nazario.

Interesting.

While it’s a rather unique XI, there can be no denying that every single player that received the honour from Casillas is firmly in the ‘all-time great’ bracket.

Sammer, Matthaus, Nedved, Gullit, Van Basten and Ronaldo are all Ballon d’Or winners, while Buffon, Barsei and Maldini are three of the greatest defensive-minded footballers in