It is tough to outshine the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Raul but one player has done it all season and he may well represent Spain's best hope of success at Euro 2004.

At the age of 22, Iker Casillas is already playing his fifth season in the Real Madrid first team and looking forward to his third appearance at a major international tournament.

He will arrive in by far the best form of his career, having ironed out some of his weaknesses on high balls and sharpened up reflexes that are positively feline when it comes to close range shot stopping.

His form has certainly impressed Real Madrid's latest 'galactico' David Beckham.

"I knew Casillas was a good keeper but he's even better than I thought," said Beckham, who was moved to give Casillas a kiss after his performance in the Champions League away to Partizan Belgrade. "He's just been incredible."

Casillas has been used to such plaudits since bursting into the Real first team in 1999 and his subsequent fast-track promotion to the national side.

The modest Madrileno was included in the squad for Euro 2000 but was not given a game.

He continued to make progress in terms of consistency and was given a chance to prove himself at the highest level at the 2002 World Cup, after Santiago Canizares had ruled himself out by dropping a bottle of aftershave on his foot.

Casillas kept Spain alive in a penalty shoot-out win over Ireland but was unable to perform similar heroics against South Korea in the quarter-finals.

He left the tournament unquestionably his country's number one keeper, though, and has maintained that position under new coach Inaki Saez.

Casillas has a gift for the spectacular that few other keepers can match and that might just make the difference for a Spanish side short on inspiration in other areas of the field.

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