Casillas fully focused on Cup...not TV girlfriend

POTCHEFSTROOM, South Africa (Reuters) - Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas is not distracted by the pitchside presence of his television presenter girlfriend and is fully focused on his job, according to defender Raul Albiol.

Casillas, who is in a relationship with Sara Carbonero, a Telecinco reporter covering the World Cup, was criticized for a lunging tackle that resulted in Switzerland scoring the only goal of Spain's Group H opener on Wednesday.

He had to explain himself in a live interview with Carbonero immediately after the match and the defeat prompted a British newspaper to suggest her presence at games was a distraction for the Spain captain.

"If Iker has anything, it's a lot of personality, experience and level-headedness," Albiol said at a news conference at Spain's training base in Potchefstroom on Saturday.

"He knows what his job is and he is fully focused on winning the World Cup," Albiol added.

"He knows he's the captain, a key player, and everything else is nonsense. We'll give him all the support he needs."

In her video blog published on Friday (here), Carbonero did not mention the controversy, instead focusing on Monday's match and predicting Spain would beat Honduras.

(Editing by Jon Bramley)