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Porto to aid Casillas recovery with coaching role

FC Porto announced on Monday that veteran goalkeeper Iker Casillas will join the team's staff as he continues his recovery from a heart attack suffered two-and-a-half months ago.

Spain's 2010 World Cup-winning captain has not been given medical clearance yet to resume his playing career and he has not announced his retirement.

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Porto said in a club statement that Casillas, 38, will be part of the Porto staff as he continues recovering from his "health problem" and will be a link between the players, coach and directors, with his tasks extended to other areas of the club.

"I'm going to do something different from what I usually did, which was to be on the pitch," Casillas told the club's website. "I'll try to make the connection between the team and the club.

"The coach talked to me last season when my situation happened and he told me that he wanted me to stay with them, close to the players, close to the younger players, because there would be a lot of changes. I will try to do my best to help my teammates.

"We will prepare to achieve the best we can at the beginning of the season. We already have several weeks of work behind us but there are still a couple of weeks left before the first official matches. Let's all have a great season together so that we can win the championship, the cups and do as well as we can in Europe."

Casillas last trained with FC Porto on May 1, the day he suffered an "acute myocardial infarction" during training. He was discharged from hospital five days later.

A three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, Casillas has made 156 appearances since joining Porto from Madrid on a free transfer in the summer of 2015.

Before his health scare, Casillas had planned to retire at the age of 40, once he had completed his latest contract which runs until June 2020, with the option of a second year.

Casillas played 167 times for Spain and captained his country to their first ever World Cup triumph nine years ago in South Africa.

He also won the 2008 and 2012 European Championships.