Thank the Lord for Thibaut Courtois
That’s literally the biggest positive from the game. Courtois, right from the first second, was Real Madrid’s best player, and he did everything he could to make sure that his team stayed in the game even after a performance like this.
Courtois was big. Crucial. He showed his importance to this team in every way imaginable. He tried his best to get the ball to the attackers because every single outfield player had completely forgotten how to do so. He had six crucial saves, most of them from Mbappe, and kept Real Madrid in the game – at least and at most on paper – till the final minute, quite literally. He saved Lionel Messi’s penalty, and had more touches than Karim Benzema, Vinicius Junior and Marco Asensio. Yeah, you read that right.
It just goes to show two things: How incredible Thibaut Courtois is and how underappreciated he has been in the last few seasons, and how reliant Real Madrid are on their goalkeeper and centre-backs. Like, really think about it. How many times have we seen Courtois make a bunch of crucial saves to make sure the score doesn’t change or Real Madrid don’t lose? We’ve seen that so many times this season alone, and it’s a shame no one talks about it. No one’s talking about it right now, and no one would’ve mentioned it had Real Madrid won the game. That’s how underappreciated he is.
In my opinion, Courtois is the best goalkeeper in the world. He’s proved that time after time after time, and it’s a shame that no one will realise it or start watching him play, all because he had one mediocre season. Just one.