Iker Casillas Talks Croatia, Spain’s Euro 2012 Rivals and Winning in 2008

Spain face Croatia this evening in a game that will almost certainly decide whether or not they proceed to the quarter finals of Euro 2012, with Italy odds-on to beat Republic of Ireland, should Croatia upset the European and World Champions then they could find themselves eliminated from the competition, but captain Iker Casillas as seen it all before and remains focused on the task in hand.

Your last game is against Croatia, how do you feel ahead of this game?

Our last game in our group is against Croatia and I expect this to be a very good game – it could well decide the group winners. They’ve got good attacking players like [Luca] Modric and [Ivan] Rakitic and they play a similar style of football to us. I expect it to be very open with lots of chances for both teams and I hope we can come out on top.

Who are the teams and players to look out for at Euro 2012?

At Euro 2012 I think Germany will be a really strong team, they’ve got a good balanced side and played very well at the World Cup. Holland as well, runners up at the last World Cup, are a really good team. When they beat Brazil in 2010 they took a big step forward. However there are also teams like France, England and Portugal to watch out for.

Take us back and tell us how it felt when you won the 2008 Euros and 2010 World Cup?

I felt more intense emotions and joy at the 2008 Euros. It was my first major title with the Spanish national team and that’s when I fulfilled my childhood dream. The World Cup is the biggest tournament you can win on the national stage and it’s the dream for anyone who likes football – luckily I managed to make two dreams come true in two years! The two tournaments will always be very closely linked in my mind will always be the most special to me.

Iker Cassilas' Spain take-on Croatia today at 7:45PM at PGE Arena, Gdansk, live on BBC1.