Goalkeeper Kiko Casilla says he has had no trouble adapting to his new life as a player at Real Madrid following his move from Espanyol.
Casilla, 28, arrived at Real Madrid in a €6 million transfer on a five-year contract two weeks ago and joined his new teammates on their preseason tour of Australia.
"It's much easier fitting into a team when you already have friends there and a technical team who helps speed the process up," Casilla told the club's official website. "Apart from that, I already knew a lot of people here and that helps."
A former Real youth-team player, Casilla made his debut in Monday's 3-0 victory over Inter Milan in Guangzhou, China. Then the goalkeeper took centre-stage in Thursday's triumph over AC Milan, a 10-9 win on penalties after both sides failed to score in normal time.
Casilla replaced Real's No. 1 Keylor Navas after half-time and made some crucial saves. He then scored his team's last penalty before saving 16-year-old AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma's spot kick to hand the Spaniards the International Champions Cup of the China leg.
"These are tournaments that we love to play because they help us prepare for the season, which is going to be long," Casilla added. "The tournaments are always better when you win and play well. I was last in the penalty shootout and I managed to save one and score one. I'm old enough not to let the pressure get to me."
Casilla left the Bernabeu stadium eight years ago to join Espanyol and never thought he would return. However, 13 clean sheets in 37 league games for the Catalan outfit in 2014-15 attracted the attention of Real when long-time goalkeeper Iker Casillas moved to FC Porto.
"Playing well at Espanyol has got me here again and I'm going to make the most of it and enjoy it," he said. "Being here is like winning a prize for me and I want to do the best I can.
"I'm just another player in the team and my plan is to work hard. I'm going to do the best I can, help the team to the best of my ability and after that, let whoever has to decide, decide."
Los Blancos have three more preseason games before they start their La Liga campaign against Sporting Gijon on Aug. 23. They take on Tottenham, and either Bayern Munich or AC Milan in next week's Audi Cup at the Allianz Arena in Germany before travelling to Oslo to face Valerenga on Aug. 9.