The Real Madrid goalkeeper has hailed the promising attacker’s fine form in the wake of Tuesday’s win over Espanyol, while also praising his side’s strength in defence
Iker Casillas has lavished praise on Jese Rodriguez, insisting the youngster has a bright future at Real Madrid after his impressive performance in the Copa del Rey.
Jese needed only seven minutes to break the deadlock in the second leg of the quarter-final tie as Madrid ran out 1-0 winners (2-0 on agg.) over Espanyol on Tuesday.
And Casillas feels the 20-year-old hardly set a foot wrong all game and more displays of this standard will only serve to bolster his claim to first-team football at the club.
“Everything that Jese has done, he has done well,” Casillas told the official Madrid website.
“Jese has a great future ahead of him. We like that he helps the team and makes the most of his opportunities.
“Jese, [Alvaro] Morata, Casemiro and Nacho [Fernandez] are all showing that they are first team players.”
Casillas has not conceded a single goal in 2014, setting a new club record for most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal in the process.
But the Spain international believes the cleansheets are down to the back line in front of him as well.
“I’m happy because if we have set a record it is because we are doing things well. We won the tie without conceding a goal and the team was phenomenal at the back,” he continued.
“We are not giving our opponents any chances, and in general the team should be given top marks in defence.”