According to the latest reports, Los Blancos shot-stopper Thibaut Courtois has revealed that he is still one of the best keepers in the world following his massive error against Russia in the Euro 2020 qualification stage. The Belgian has come under heavy firing from the Spanish press but has responded to his critics this week.
Real Madrid are having a horrendous season this term as the La Liga giants currently sit in third place, 12 points behind leaders and fierce rivals Barcelona. It seems quite obvious that the Madrid side are out of the race for the Spanish league title and the Catalonians added further embarrassment when they dumped Madrid out of the Copa Del Rey earlier this month. The one trophy that kept Real Madrid the prestige and honor that they deserved was the Champions League as they won the elite trophy three times in a row in the past three successive seasons. However, the Champions League holders were eliminated from the competition last week when a young Ajax side humiliated Los Blancos 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Since the departure of Portuguese talisman Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer of 2018, Real Madrid have not been able to bring in a suitable replacement. The 34-year-old left the Santiago Bernabeu as the club’s all-time top goalscorer, netting 450 times across nine seasons for the Madrid giants but moved to Serie A club Juventus last summer. One player that Real Madrid did sign was Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois when the big shot stopper arrived at Madrid from London outfit Chelsea in the summer. Courtois’ arrival at Madrid broke the record for the most expensive goalkeeper in La Liga history for a transfer fee of £35m. Courtois did have a spell with Atletico Madrid as well earlier when he helped Los Rojiblancos to win the La Liga, Europa League and Copa Del Rey across three seasons before moving to Chelsea.
At Chelsea, Courtois won the Premier League on two occasions and the League Cup and the FA Cup as well before moving back to Spain. However, one of the main reasons for Real Madrid’s terrible campaign so far has been because of the form of the 26-year-old keeper. Courtois has made some massive blunders in high profile games which have caused Madrid big time this term. However, Courtois is not only struggling with his club as he also made a few errors in a game against Russia in the Euro 2020 qualifiers.
Thibaut Courtois didn't have the best of months in March 😳 pic.twitter.com/kQeYwF1FED
— GOAL (@goal) April 2, 2019
The Belgian keeper hesitated with the ball at his feet and that allowed Russian star Artem Dzyuba to take the ball away from him and put it into an empty net.
However, Courtois has backed himself after being slammed by the media as he said, “I still consider myself one of the best, even though the Spanish press wants to kill me, I feel very strong, I am calm because I train well and play well Cheryshev nudges me and I ran out of strength to clear the ball, it was a little mistake, but that is the goalkeeper’s life, despite that, afterward I kept calm and made my game. You always learn from mistakes.”
