Has 'butter fingers' Iker Casillas outlived his usefulness to Spain?

'Saint Iker' as he is popularly known amongst football fans, may well have had his days numbered, thanks to a horrendous goalkeeping howler, which allowed minnows Slovakia to sneak in a priceless 2-1 win over reigning European champions Spain, in a Euro 2016 qualifier at Zilina on Thursday.

Casillas failed to handle Juraj Kucka’s 17th minute freekick, and allowed the ball to bounce past him in goal, thus extending the wretched run of form he has had with Spain in recent international matches.

Though Spain seem like a force in decline, especially after their humiliating first round exit in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, still it is Casillas who has come under the radar, thanks to his below par performances for 'La Roja'.

Coming to the 2014 World Cup and it was that tournament in Brazil which probably exposed Casillas as a 'spent force', which was all but evident thanks to some insipid goalkeeping against the Netherlands and Chile.

So what really has gone wrong with the man who was once branched amongst one of the greatest goalkeepers that Spain has produced?

Despite the age old adage of 'Form is temporary but class is permanent' ringing true for legends of a particular sport, still going by recent form, it looks difficult for Casillas to regain the peak form he enjoyed with Spain, during their golden trophy winning run.

Casillas, now 33, is clearly not the confident keeper he used to be during his hey days with Real Madrid and Spain, and it is all but evident that his once lightning speed reflexes and acrobatics under the bar are clearly on the wane.

Even his club future seems to be in jeopardy, as Casillas has lost his place to Diego Lopez at the Bernabeu club, and has also a horde of 'diferences' with maverick coach Jose Mourinho.

Though Casillas still has a good number of years left in him to turn around his current on field misery and aim at redeeming himself at both club and country level, the best he can do now is to take inspiration from another fellow Spaniard, Fernando Torres.

Torres, who was castigated in a similar manner for his poor form on the field a few years back, turned it around in a matter of a few games, and ended up with both World Cup as well as European glory.

So as things currently stand, it definitely will be an uphill task for Casillas to swim through the tide of negative criticism and consolidate his place as Spain's numero uno keeper.

Now only time will tell as to whether Casillas will shrug aside his torrid form and roll back the clock towards some of his more glorious performances in a Spain shirt or will he lose the plot and be resigned to a mere footnote of Spanish football.