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“You can say that we have a goalkeeper,” Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said, smiling. You can, yeah.
This was after a game against Sevilla, but it could have been Rotterdam, Liverpool, Rome or anywhere, really. Every week, every game, good, bad or indifferent, there’s at least one astonishing save from Thibaut Courtois. Sometimes they don’t really need it; sometimes they really, really do. But either way, it’s always there.
Real Madrid have won seven games in a row. Without him, they wouldn’t have. All of them have seen a Courtois save, seemingly a statutory requirement now, no match complete without one.
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Just ask … well, Courtois himself. The goalkeeper is not shy in saying so, nor is he slow to mention his miracles in postmatch interviews, slipping them in somewhere. But then again, he’s that rare footballer — the kind for which we should be grateful — who actually has something to say and prefers to say it, as opposed to just mumbling a few cliches to get out of there. A man willing to talk postgame — almost every postgame, in fact, a press officer’s dream when others are refusing — and do it clearly and directly on every subject, to analyse the game properly.
Why shouldn’t that include his saves? After all, the analysis of just about every Real Madrid game would be incomplete without them. Besides, there is something matter of fact in the way he does so, happily breaking down which stops were easier, which were harder, how his height plays a part. On Wednesday night after a 1-0 win over Athletic Club, for example, Courtois outlined the difference between the saves he made, noting of stops from Raul García and Oihan Sancet: “I know Raul García well. He heads it low, from close range, which is not easy. It’s training, quality, reflexes, talent, and a bit of luck. The…
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Source : espn
