The Portuguese coach controversially dropped the Roja captain from his Real Madrid side but has now voiced his support of him after his poor display against the Netherlands

Jose Mourinho has given his backing to under-fire Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas ahead of their crunch World Cup clash with Chile on Wednesday.

The Roja captain was heavily criticised following his display in the world champions' 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Netherlands in their tournament opener – a performance Casillas himself described as the worst of his career.

And despite Mourinho controversially dropping Casillas from his side in the 2012-13 season when coach of Real Madrid, the current Chelsea boss says he would stick by the 33-year-old if it were up to him.

"I wouldn't put Iker on the bench," Mourinho told Yahoo.

"The position of goalkeeper is a very specific one, and I'm not one for changing it just because of a bad game.

"I only change things because of form, which shows the keeper isn't in the right condition, doesn't have confidence, stability, giving off the feeling it is better to change."

He added: "Casillas has done great things with Spain, he's a keeper who needs the confidence of his coach, and one bad game, for me, isn't sufficient enough a reason to change a goalkeeper."

Casillas is Spain’s all-time most-capped player with 155 appearances.