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Where do birthday boys Casillas, Cech rank among decade's best 'keepers?

JOE KLAMAR / AFP / Getty

Celebrated shot-stoppers Iker Casillas and Petr Cech both celebrate birthdays Saturday, marking a fete for two of the best modern penalty-area denizens.

With trophies and triumphs - both with club and country - providing the determining factor, here's a look at where 36-year-old Casillas and the Czechman one year his junior rank among the world's best 'keepers over the last decade.

10. Claudio Bravo

As satisfactory with the ball at his feet as he is worrying at times when it caresses his claws, Claudio Bravo's maiden voyage with Manchester City hasn't exactly been smooth sailing.

Even so, the Chilean No. 1 led La Roja to its first Copa America crown in 2015 before repeating the coup a year later - again at the expense of Argentina - to go with a pair of La Liga and Copa del Rey wins at Barcelona.

9. Thibaut Courtois

Like a baby giraffe crocked on Juniper Slings wrestling its lanky limbs to take a first step, Chelsea netminder Thibaut Courtois looks a tad too angular for his own good, though that hasn't stopped the 25-year-old Belgian international from amassing a collection of individual and team honours.

Owner of two Premier League winner's medals - the most recent more his doing than the first as Petr Cech's deputy - Courtois has also nabbed a league, domestic cup, and Europa League title while with Atletico Madrid to go with nods from La Liga and UEFA for his efforts under tanned temperamental ticking time bomb Diego Simeone.

8. David De Gea

Likely to climb this ranking should Real Madrid find the power cord for its fax machine to free the Spain No. 1 from the malaise and mediocrity of Europa League mainstays Manchester United, David De Gea's cobra-like reflexes and distribution skills are enough to make this list.

Throw in a Premier League title and FA Cup whilst with the Red Devils, a Europa League won with Atletico, and three Spanish youth international conquests, and De Gea fits the profile of a future world's best.

7. Julio Cesar

Like his namesake once said, "Experience is the teacher of all things" - a concept few would understand better than well-travelled turtleneck curator Julio Cesar. Venerated with the distinction of being the only player on this list to have played in the MLS, former Inter Milan star Cesar's trophy case is bursting at the seams.

Four of his five Scudetti on the bounce while at the San Siro fall within the parameters of this list, as does four domestic cups, the 2009-10 Champions League - which capped off Italy's first and only treble - and multiple individual nods from Serie A and UEFA.

6. Edwin van der Sar

With eyes wide and mouth agape, Edwin van der Sar always looked suited to swallowing a few flies while winding down his days at Old Trafford, and despite retiring in 2011 - no, that 2016 substitute appearance for Dutch lower leaguers Noordwijk doesn't count - the Oranje legend makes this list sans debate.

A beanstalk with hands of glue, van der Sar captured the Eredivisie and two KNVB Cups with Ajax before swapping clogs for Coronation Street and leading United to four Premier League titles, a pair of League Cups, and winning Man of the Match honours in a Champions League final victory over Chelsea in Moscow.

5. Victor Valdes

Forget his role as backup to American sieve Brad Guzan at Middlesbrough and a spell as the the second fiddle to birthday boy Casillas while with Spain, Victor Valdes' two-decade spell with Barcelona is arguably the best ever for the Catalan giant.

Six La Liga crowns - including four in the last decade - to go with two Copa del Reys, a quartet of Supercopa conquests, and the 2008-09 and 2010-11 Champions Leagues dot a busy CV that also features a World Cup and European Championship. Not too shabby that.

4. Petr Cech

Despite starting this season with Arsenal plagued by form that could be charaterised as Manuel Almunia-esque, the towering Czech Cech has appeared his former self of late as he widens the gap atop England's clean sheet records table.

His best days may be behind him, but that 11-year tenure with Chelsea stacks up against the best. Four Premier League winner's medals pair nicely with four FA Cup accolades and a trio of League Cups, and with victories in the Champions League and Europa League finals, the 35-year-old Cech has matched domestic performances with those on the continent.

3. Manuel Neuer

If Manuel Neuer was a men's league 'keeper he would drive his mates mad playing sweeper to the perils of conceding half-witted goals, except the last man to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or since Gianluigi Buffon earned the honour in 2006 stakes a claim for the world's best and not the chubby bloke who shows up on Sunday with a bounty of beers in his belly.

The first of three players on this list to have been the No. 1 for a World Cup win, Neuer has now won five Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich on the bounce, three DFB-Pokal's, and the 2012-13 Champions League, where he stopped eight efforts on target from rival Borussia Dortmund.

2. Gianluigi Buffon

Classically handsome and seemingly ageless, Gianluigi Buffon remains the only shot-stopper to ever win the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year as he did in 2003 when the Tuscan son led Juventus to the Champions League final, only to lose to rival AC Milan on penalties.

The 39-year-old will get a chance to better that result against Real Madrid, and the man who holds an absurd Serie A record for longest streak without conceding a goal (974 minutes) has showed nary a sign of slowing down this decade. Five Scudetti and three successive Coppa Italia wins bulge a trophy case that is highlighted by the 2006 World Cup win, where Buffon set a tournament record by conceding just twice in seven matches.

1. Iker Casillas

Nicknamed "Saint Iker," the patron person of all things dashing and dapper has enjoyed the best decade of any shot-stopper in football for both club and country.

The third captain in football history to lift the World Cup, European Cup/Champions League, and European Championship trophy (Franz Beckenbauer, Didier Deschamps), Casillas has won La Liga twice during the last ten years with Real Madrid, two Copa del Rey crowns, and the 2013-14 Champions League. Six times a member of UEFA's Team of the Year, Spain's most-capped player skippered it to Europe's most dominant run with two European trophies flanking La Furia Roja's first and only World Cup win.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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