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Real Madrid: Three standout players from the 1-0 win over Galatasaray

By Ben Sundock

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - OCTOBER 22: Federico Valverde of Real Madrid gestures during the UEFA Champions League group A match between Galatasaray and Real Madrid at Turk Telekom Arena on October 22, 2019 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images)
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - OCTOBER 22: Federico Valverde of Real Madrid gestures during the UEFA Champions League group A match between Galatasaray and Real Madrid at Turk Telekom Arena on October 22, 2019 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images) /
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After a woeful loss to recently promoted RCD Mallorca over the weekend, Real Madrid did well to bounce back and pick up a huge win in Turkey against Galatasaray in the Champions League. Here are three Los Blancos players who performed well in the win.

Rotation, rotation, rotation. That was the name of the game for manager Zinedine Zidane on Tuesday night in Istanbul. Following the international break, the Real Madrid boss was astute to rotate his players with all the traveling they have been doing recently.

And, lucky for him, the decision paid off with his team not only picking up the win, but picking up a clean sheet in the process after having allowed three and two goals in their first two UCL matches this fall.

Zizou had really been feeling the heat from the fans after being outscored 5-0 in the first three halves against Paris Saint-Germain and Club Brugge, but the rotated squad picked up the slack and played a great game.

Here are the three standout players from the win.

Real Madrid’s Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (R) shakes hand with Galatasaray’s Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera at the end of the UEFA Champions League group A football match between Galatasaray and Real Madrid on October 22, 2019 at the Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi in Istanbul. (Photo by Gokhan KILICER / AFP) (Photo by GOKHAN KILICER/AFP via Getty Images)
Real Madrid’s Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (R) shakes hand with Galatasaray’s Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera at the end of the UEFA Champions League group A football match between Galatasaray and Real Madrid on October 22, 2019 at the Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi in Istanbul. (Photo by Gokhan KILICER / AFP) (Photo by GOKHAN KILICER/AFP via Getty Images) /

Thibaut Courtois

Yes, Fernando Muslera was much better than Thibaut Courtois in the match, but, the Galatasaray keeper had to deal with constant pressure from Real Madrid and did great to keep his team in the contest.

Courtois saw just a few short bursts from the Turkish side as they tried to hit on the counter attack. The Belgian has been hearing the rumblings from the Madrid faithful since Keylor Navas was sold to PSG and the stat that hung over his head entering this match was that he had allowed more goals this season than he had made saves (11 saves, 12 goals conceded).

He quickly corrected that worrying stat by making three saves on a couple of clear-cut chances from Gala.

The 2-2 draw with Club Brugge a couple of weeks ago saw Thibaut relegated to the bench for a match, but the tall shot-stopper has answered the criticism well as he has now earned three clean sheets in his last four appearances.

With the weekend off due to the rescheduling of El Clasico, Thibaut Courtois can rest up and focus on carrying this momentum into the match against Leganes on October 30th.

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