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Sport

27th Mar 2016

Iker Casillas equals the record for most international appearances by a European

Hats off to him

Kevin Beirne

It has taken 16 years, but he’s finally gotten there.

Iker Casillas equalled the record for most international caps by a European footballer on Sunday night.

The Spanish shot-stopper earned his 166th appearance for his country, an amount only previously reached by Latvia’s Vitālijs Astafjevs on this continent.

Casillas amassed the record over an incredible 16-year career, during which time he captained his country to two European Championships and one World Cup.

Although he has fallen out of favour somewhat in recent years, the 34-year-old still holds a 10-cap lead over his closest European rival still currently playing, Gianluigi Buffon.

But the former Real Madrid keeper still has some ways to go before beating Ahmed Hassan’s record of 184 appearances for Egypt between 1995 and 2012.