Real Madrid at Real Betis: 3 Man of the Match candidates for Los Blancos

Real Madrid GK Thibaut Courtois

You can never take the goalkeeper for granted, especially when that goalkeeper is Thibaut Courtois. The Real Madrid stopper won the Zamora Trophy last year as the best keeper in La Liga, beating out Jan Oblak and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Courtois was a clean sheet machine in 2019-2020 and also led the league in save percentage, per FBRef.com. There were so many times where he came up big, saving a wonderful shot from outside the box from out of nowhere or maintaining his focus to stymie a breakaway counterattack in a one-on-one situation.

He did exactly that to deny Alexander Isak another goal against Real Madrid last Sunday at the Anoeta Stadium, using his leg to make the best save of the week in La Liga.

Courtois will face a ton of shots this weekend at the Benito Villamarin. Manuel Pellegrini will be hungry for goals, and Nabil Fekir and Joaquin are capable of peppering Courtois’ goal with deadly shots from any distance. Even Borja Iglesias cannot be overlooked, as he is a sneaky striker who once scored 17 goals for Espanyol.

But I wouldn’t bet against Courtois producing another clean sheet or even keeping Los Blancos in the game in other ways, such as in the 4-1 win in Pamplona earlier this year. Courtois is one of the top three goalkeepers in the world right now.