Real Madrid and Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas criticized the new ball being used in this season's Champions League this Thursday.

The first round of Champions League group matches held this week has seen several goals scored from free kicks and several goalkeeper errors.

Real Madrid's fourth goal in Zurich on Tuesday night, for example, came after the Zurich goalkeeper misread the flight of Cristiano Ronaldo's free kick.

Casillas says the problems are down to the new ball, which is light and as a result moves around in the air, making it difficult to judge its flight.

"The new Champions League ball is a total disaster," he said in sports paper Diario AS.

"It is very hard to stop. I have spoken with (Chelsea and Liverpool goalkeepers) Petr Cech and Pepe Reina about it."

"I'm sorry, but we have reached a point where it is impossible to judge," said Casillas.

"We used it for the first time in the Confederations Cup and the balls get worse all of the time. The balls we use in the Primera Liga fly straighter, it can do the odd strange thing, but not often," concluded the goalkeeper.

(Xinhua News Agency September 18, 2009)