The two Real Madrid players who are most responsible for December success

Real Madrid had a very tough schedule going into December. I personally thought it would be a success if Real Madrid were still at the top of the table at the end of the month. I would’ve never imagined that this team would pick up all but two points in December, while keeping clean sheets in all but one game. It’s truly fantastic how far this team has come since the rough patch before the return of Ferland Mendy and Toni Kroos.

But although we have many players in the offense and the midfield to thank for this success, I’m going to look at the entire team and pick out two players who I thought were most important in the month of December.

I’m sure you would’ve guessed it by now, because really, everyone was talking about his performances in December, something that hasn’t happened many times in the past. Eder Militao has been in incredible form this season, but most importantly, we can talk about his December as being one of the best string of games any player has had this year. The other guy is Courtois, but we’ll get to him soon enough.

Courtois and Militao had a bunch of amazing performances for Real Madrid in December

I didn’t think I would be this relieved about Real Madrid’s defense this season, because of the simple fact that the club lost two of the best defenders in its history and only made one signing in that department. David Alaba – who has been amazing himself – was the only player that was brought in, and no one expected Alaba and Militao to form this good of a partnership this soon.

Yet they did, and Militao has just been fantastic. This guy has been putting in near-perfect performances in every single game, but that won’t reflect in his statistics because there is a lot more to his game than statistics. He’s a leader, he makes gambles at the perfect time, the difficulty of the situations that he gets Madrid out of simply cannot be quantified. And he is rightfully a candidate for LaLiga’s Player Of The Month award for December, and frankly, I don’t think anyone else deserves it nearly as much as he does.

Militao’s not alone, though. Courtois is someone that gets disrespected by many, many people for just one bad season. Some people are now labelling him as the best goalkeeper in the world, and rightfully so. I don’t think there is anyone that is as good as the Belgian right now. Eduoard Mendy had a great 2021 overall, especially the first few months of it, but hasn’t been that good lately, and also has a surprisingly horrible penalty record.

Jan Oblak is usually very sound between the sticks, but this season he has been conceding many goals. You can say Alison Becker is up there, and he is, but I just think that the kind of games Courtois has had this season automatically makes him the best in the world in his position.

Whenever the defense is not able to stop the attacks, it’s always Thibaut Courtois that comes in clutch, and he did that so many times in December, it was insanity. The Belgian boasts a save percentage of 80%, which is in the 98th percentile. He’s also in the 99th percentile for goals against per game (just 0.70 per 90), only behind Mendy by a small margin. It’s absolutely fantastic the way he comes through for Real Madrid game after game.

Courtois’ crucial saves in the games against Atletico Madrid, against Real Sociedad, Inter and so many others will not go unnoticed among the fans, and hopefully not in the media either. The Belgian won’t be around for the next few games because he has tested positive for COVID-19, and hopefully, Andriy Lunin can take advantage of this opportunity that he’d be getting.

Real Madrid have some of the best players in every position, and it should be no surprise that these two are playing this well. Yet, somehow, it still is.