Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho surprisingly benched veteran goalkeeper Iker Casillas for Saturday's game at Malaga, and the move may cost him more than just three points as little-used Adan Garrido was overwhelmed in a 2-3 loss. [Sina.com.cn]

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho surprisingly benched veteran goalkeeper Iker Casillas for Saturday's game at Malaga, and the move may cost him more than just three points as little-used Adan Garrido was overwhelmed in a 2-3 loss.

Casillas has been a starter for a decade and is the captain of both Real and Spain's world champion team, and is widely revered by the club's fans.

Saturday's game was the first time he had not started a meaningful league fixture for the defending Spanish league champions in 54 matches.

Relations between Mourinho and his players are already frayed, and they are likely to be further strained now.

"It surprised us, Iker is our captain," Madrid defender Sergio Ramos said.

Mourinho justified the move to bench Casillas by saying that the inexperienced Adan was in better form.

"We hadn't been playing well in different aspects of the game, among which was our defense," said Mourinho. "It was a technical decision. My opinion is the one that matters. I analyzed the players I had available and picked the team to play. You can invent the story you want, but it is a purely technical decision and nothing more.

"You (the media) can invent what you want but it's purely a technical decision."

The defeat was Madrid's fourth in nine away matches and left the defending champion in third place 16 points behind leader Barcelona.

Mourinho defended Adan by saying that he thought the choice of goalkeeper "had no influence in the result."

However, Real hadn't allowed three goals in a league game since a 1-3 loss to Barcelona last December, and it was the first time it had conceded three goals to a Spanish team other than Barcelona since April 2011.

Casillas' mood in Madrid's dugout went from glum to nervous and finally anguished. At one point he zipped his sweatshirt up to hide half his face.

Mourinho scoffed at the question of whether he feared for his job heading into the winter break with very small hopes of defending the league title.

"Fear for my job?," he replied. "I have never feared for my job." But in the next breath he acknowledged that "football has no memory. The only thing that matter is the present, not the titles you have won."

Also, Lionel Messi polished off his record year with his 91st and final goal of 2012 in Barcelona's 3-1 win at Valladolid.