Pele: Give Ballon d'Or to Casillas

Brazilian legend Pele has called for this year's Ballon d'Or award to be given to Iker Casillas.

A stalwart for club and country, Casillas recently completed an eventful season during which he won La Liga and Euro 2012. As is the case in most championship winning teams, much of the glory and honour has gone to the attackers playing in front of the custodian, but Pele shared with AS his belief that Casillas' contributions deserve more prominence.

"Usually it's attacking players [who win the Ballon d'Or], but for me it may be unfair to make such an assessment given that I have not seen all the games," he said.

"Still, there is no doubt about the performances of Casillas in big tournaments. This would be a good opportunity - the ideal time - to give him the Ballon d'Or."
A record-breaking striker during his time on the pitch, the Brazilian considers each save made by a goalkeeper to be as important as each goal scored by a forward.

"He has contributed as much as the forwards in their victories. You can have the best No.10 but it won't work if there isn't a great goalkeeper behind him," Pele stated.

"I have been very important [for Brazil], I will not deny that, because I was a forward. But look at [Amadeo] Carrizo, [Lev] Yashin and [Gordon] Banks. People do not talk about the goalkeepers."