Legendary Keeper Iker Casillas Thanks Liverpool Fans for 'Lovely' Reception at Anfield

Iker Casillas has paid tribute to Liverpool's home faithful for the manner of the great reception that they afford to him at Anfield on Tuesday.

Casillas spoke to Liverpool's official site after his team's 0-0 draw with the Premier League giants in L4 and expressed his gratitude over the chants and applause he received from the Anfield crowd.

The Porto goalkeeper was chosen to start his side's Champions League last-16 second leg tie against the Reds on Merseyside with the Portuguese giants having no hope of progressing to the next round.

Porto were soundly beaten on home soil by Jurgen Klopp's men a fortnight ago - the Super Liga club falling to a heavy 5-0 loss at Estadio do Dragao and had no chance of making it into the quarter-finals.

Casillas had been linked with a move to Liverpool before he traded the bright lights of Santiago Bernabeu with Real Madrid for Porto, but elected to join the Portuguese heavyweights instead, and he stated his delight at being given a rousing reception by Liverpool supporters in the aftermath of his team's stalemate with the Reds.

He said: “I would like to thank the Liverpool fans for that lovely detail. Applauding a player from the opposite team does not happen very often.

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“You could see that this was a different game to the first leg. We wanted to give a better impression of ourselves – not just for us, but for the fans here and those back in Porto.

“We were good in defence and in attack and were just missing that goal that would have made this an even better result.”

The veteran shot stopper was making his third Champions League appearance of the season in the draw with Liverpool, and has featured 22 times in total for the Dragons so far this term.