Real Madrid owes Thibaut Courtois everything after El Clasico

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has been sensational all season long, but he saved his best clean sheet for the most important La Liga match of the season.

Thibaut Courtois will always give you a fighting chance in goal. That’s been the refrain time and time again this season for Real Madrid, as Courtois has come up big in countless games for Los Blancos, but particularly when the calendar turned to 2020.

Take his performances against Getafe and Osasuna as examples. Real Madrid would eventually win both games by a margin of three goals, but if Courtois didn’t make several big saves early in both matchups, who knows if Real would have come roaring back if the deficit were larger.

He always remains focused even if it seems like those around him have fallen asleep, and that’s one of the most important things a goalkeeper can do to make everyone feel safe. And there isn’t a keeper who inspires as much safety as Courtios.

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On Sunday night with all the lights focused on the Santiago Bernabeu, Courtois delivered one of his finest performances of the 2019-2020 campaign. The Belgian goalkeeper stopped Arthur Melo from point-blank range and then denied Lionel Messi for two massive first-half saves.

While Marc Andre ter Stegen unsurprisingly matched Courtois with a couple of top-drawer saves to deny the in-form Isco, Real Madrid were the ones who stood tall as the victors in a 2-0 home win that puts Los Blancos back on top of the table.

Now, Courtois is up to 12 clean sheets, with his shutout of FC Barcelona at the Bernabeu being the most impressive considering context.

Coming into the game, Real were reeling after suffering defeats to Levante and Manchester City, with the latter occurring in a big game at home in the Champions League.

And even before that, Real dropped points in the league to Celta Vigo, setting up Barcelona to overtake them last weekend on Matchday 25.

But after Matchday 26, Los Merengues stood alone at the top of La Liga, emphatically defeating Barcelona to make the statement that they stand alone at the top of the league.

Courtois himself stands alone at the top of the league statistically among goalkeepers. Not even Jan Oblak and ter Stegen can match Courtois’ 12 clean sheets or his average of only .61 goals against allowed per game. Of course, Courtois benefits from a back four that includes the world’s best center back duo in Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos, but with a save percentage of 76.3% that ranks first in the league, a majority of credit has to go to Courtois.

Real Madrid entered Matchday 26 against their bitter rivals with an immense amount of pressure, but it’s pressure that Courtois, in particular, has been familiar with. He was the scapegoat for fans as recently as October, with calls for his benching after a 2-2 draw against Club Brugge, in spite of the fact that Courtois was not at fault for either goal.

Now, the worries about Courtois are so far in the past that they are laughable. He is easily one of the top goalkeepers in the world, and after El Clasico, it’s fair to start calling him the world’s No. 1 again. It’s a distinction he held after top-drawer performances for Belgium and Chelsea, and now that he’s doing it at the most pressurized club in the world in Real Madrid, those discussions should begin again.

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But for now, Real fans will know that they owe Courtois a great debt of gratitude for another big-game performance. He kept Real in the match in the first half and allowed the attack time to turn it up. And they did just that.

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