Belgian goalkeeper Blancos – about the triumphant end of the season, competition with Lunin and the turning point in the final match of the Champions League
Goalkeeper Real Madrid Thibaut Courtois spoke about the end of the season, in which he managed to return to action after two serious injuries and play in the victorious final Champions League. In addition, the Belgian did not compromise on kind words addressed to his competitor, the Ukrainian Andrey Lunin.
“It has been a very long and difficult year, but I am very grateful for the support of the locker room, teammates, medical staff, coaches and fans. I am very happy. I was able to finish the season just like that, with five wedge sheets. It was very cool.”
“I was calm, after all, the coach knows he has me. I think Andrey Lunin had a great year and we have to thank him, but I knew I was fine. I felt good in the games and I was at a very high level in training. If Lunin hadn’t gotten sick, the coach would have had to make the decision, but I felt his confidence.”
Thibault paid special attention to the final match of the Champions League, which was very difficult for Real at first.
“In the first half we didn’t play our game, we didn’t do what the coach asked us to do. They had a lot of space, we didn’t press well. At half-time he said we were switching to 4-3-3, we were more central and controlled the game better. We saved the first half, in which we could have been losing 0-2, and in the end we managed to score.”
Let us remember that in the decisive match of the European Cup on June 1 at Wembley, Borussia (Dortmund) played a strong first half, and only Courtois’ saves allowed Los Blancos to maintain a draw at the break. In the second half, Madrid transformed and eventually won (2:0) thanks to goals from Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior.
Thibault played in the final match, while Lunin spent the match on the bench. Prior to this, the Ukrainian goalkeeper played in all the playoff matches of this Champions League. Previously, the Ukrainian suffered from the flu, which is why he missed several training sessions. Andrey traveled to London for the Champions League final separately from the rest of the team. The coaching staff made this decision to eliminate the possibility of infection of other players.
The Ukrainian played 31 matches for Madrid in all tournaments in the 2023/24 season. Andrey conceded 32 goals in them and played 12 matches to zero. Courtois only recovered from two serious injuries in a row at the end of the season, having managed to play five matches for Los Blancos (all without conceding goals).
Real Madrid won their 15th trophy in the most prestigious European Cup. Also last season, Madrid won the Spanish championship.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
