Mourinho surprisingly benched veteran goalkeeper Iker Casillas as Malaga beat Real Madrid

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho surprisingly benched veteran goalkeeper Iker Casillas for Saturday's game at Malaga, and the move may cost him more than just three points as little-used Adan Garrido was overwhelmed in a 3-2 loss.

Casillas has been a regular starter for a decade and is the captain of both Madrid and Spain's world champion national team, and is widely revered by the club's fans.

Saturday's game was the first time he had not started a meaningful league fixture for the defending Spanish league champions in 54 matches.


Relations between Mourinho and his players were already frayed with the team on the slide, and they are likely to be further strained now.

"It surprised us, Iker is our captain," Madrid defender Sergio Ramos said.

Mourinho justified the move to bench Casillas by saying that the inexperienced Adan was in better form.

"We hadn't been playing well in different aspects of the game, among which was our defence," said Mourinho. "It was a technical decision.

"My opinion is the one that matters. I analyzed the players I had available and picked the team to play. You can invent the story you want, but it is a purely technical decision and nothing more."

The defeat was Madrid's fourth in nine away matches and left the defending champions in third place 16 points behind leader Barcelona.