Thibaut Courtois has been the most maligned Real Madrid starter in the 2019-2020 campaign, but it seems like the goalkeeper is back on track after a heroic display against Galatasaray.
Raise your hand if you predicted that Thibaut Courtois would be one of the best players on the pitch in Real Madrid’s narrow win over Galatasaray last Tuesday.
Courtois has been mired in controversy this season, and things seemingly reached a crescendo in Los Blancos’ first match of October. Though the Belgian goalkeeper could do nothing to save Club Brugge’s two first-half goals, which were the result of embarrassing defensive errors, he was still scapegoated after being substituted at the half due to stomach illness.
The illness prevented Courtois from playing that following Saturday against then-second-place Granada. Real won that game 4-2, though backup keeper Alphonse Areola made a mistake to gift Granada a penalty goal, thus ensuring the goalkeeper controversy would be quieted.
And now, any controversy has been put to bed for the time being, thanks to Courtois’ best performance of the season. Without him, Real Madrid may not have secured all three points in a must-win game against Galatasaray, which put the club in second place in the group.
Courtois finished the game with three saves, making it the first time this season in which he saved multiple shots while keeping a clean sheet. The performance was also Courtois’ third clean sheet of the 2019-2020 campaign in all competitions.
It was a heroic performance from Courtois, who stepped up to the plate at a crucial time. Not only were Real Madrid desperate for a win in Istanbul, but Courtois himself needed a truly strong outing in goal in order to quiet the growing doubters.
Courtois will need to build on this performance, and hopefully he’ll record another clean sheet against Leganes on Wednesday. His save percentage is still well below 60% in both the Champions League and La Liga, with only Eibar’s keeper having a worse mark among La Liga keepers.
That means it will take a few good games from Courtois to truly right the ship. He has Zinedine Zidane’s faith and has shown fans that he is still a quality keeper. The performance against Galatasaray will lead to hope that Courtois’ best games are yet to come, and what will help him is the fact that Real will start to truly gel after getting used to new signings and a new system under Zidane this season.
At his best, Courtois was a world-class keeper in the discussion for being the absolute top player between the posts in world football. Though those days seem to be in the past, there’s always been a belief that Courtois can return to this level of play. It would be presumptuous to make any prediction of a comeback, but hopefully his strong work against Galatasaray is a sign of positive things to come.