José Santiago Cañizares Ruiz is a veteran Spanish and Valencia custodian often considered as one of the best ever player to have donned the goalkeeping gloves. He is 38 years of age but his reflexes are as good as ever.

Canizares commenced his footballing career with the mighty Real Madrid in 1988 coming through the ranks at the European giants. But it wasn’t until 1994 that he could carve a place in Real’s first team but then again he failed to feature regularly for Los Merengues and departed to Valencia CF in the summer of 1998.

At the Mestalla, Santi Canizares became a huge hit and the footballing world came to know the great goalkeeper in him. Canizares was one keystone in Valencia reaching the UEFA Champions League finals in 2000 and 2001 and in winning La Liga in 2002 and 2004. Canizares also helped Valencia win the UEFA Cup in 2004.

But in December 2007 Canizares was ruthlessly axed by the then Valencia coach Ronald Koeman who decided to drop him from the first team squad along with his team mates Miguel Angel Angulo and David Albelda. But after Voro has been named the new coach of Valencia, Canizares has retuned to the Valencia starting line-up.

Canazares has been a hit in the international area too. He has played 46 times for the Spanish national football team and is regarded as one of the best in the world of all time.