Courtois, who joined in a £35million deal from Chelsea over the summer, shone in the goalless Madrid derby against crosstown rivals Atletico on Saturday. Denying Antoine Griezmann and Diego Costa, the Belgian made a series of key saves to preserve a clean sheet as Real kept pace with Barcelona at the top of the La Liga table.
Question marks have been placed over Courtois’ footwork, but the 26-year-old strongly refutes this is a weak area of his game.
“I’m not bad with my feet,” he said. “I may not be among the best, but I’m certainly not bad either. Sometimes I miss a long ball but I dare to play with my feet. The last ball on which [Nikola] Kalinic put pressure was given to [Raphael] Varane with my right. Many goalkeepers would have cleared that ball.
“Sometimes I give a bad ball, yes, but I know more goalkeepers who are, so to speak, phenomenal with their feet making more mistakes than me.
“I’m just doing what I have to do, and that’s the most important thing.”
Real travel to face CSKA Moscow in their second Champions League group game tonight (8pm). And Julen Lopetegui is under no illusion that his side face a tough challenge.
He said: “We’ve got to continue on in the same vein: go out in every match to win and try to get as many points as possible.
“The setting is incredible and our opponents wanted the game to be staged here and so the atmosphere is sure to be excellent.
“We’re up against some fine players and it’ll be an extremely challenging game because this is the Champions League.
“The players’ mindset is excellent and we’re really raring and excited for the game to get under way.
“We face a strong side on their own patch and there’s no bigger motivation than that.
“When the Champions League hymn sounds, there’s no better motivator. We’re confident that we’ll be able to achieve our target.
“If they’re thinking that this is the best time to play us, we’ll have to see about that tomorrow.”
He was rated 8/10 during the 0-0 draw against Atletico Madrid. He made a decent save from Saul at the start and rejected Antoine Griezmann in a one-on-one in the same half. Did the same on Diego Costa shortly after. His best performance in a Real Madrid shirt to date. Had little to do in the second half, but his first-half shift was enough to prove any doubters wrong.
Though his the transfer dragged on for longer than was necessary, there was never any doubt that it was going to happen.The Belgian expressed his desire to move back to Madrid long ago in order to be with his children, and the only issue for Chelsea was to find a suitable replacement.
Taking what appeared to be ‘strike action’ in order to speed the process up has left a sour taste in the mouth, however, looking at things from a human aspect, it’s entirely correct that the giant stopper be allowed that freedom of movement.
One question still remains though. Why did Real Madrid feel that they needed him in the first place?
Keylor Navas has proved to be a bargain capture from Levante and is a fully paid-up member of the Champions League-winning squads.
There have been occasions when the Costa Rican has made the most basic of errors, but he’s almost always gone on to redeem himself with incredible saves and performances in the latter stages of Europe’s best competition.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man and all that.
At 31, there’s no real question of age being a concern because goalkeepers can last a good few years longer than their outfield counterparts.
Even the suggestion that he’s not tall enough doesn’t hold water either, though Courtois’ extra inches may prove beneficial in certain circumstances.