First his joy at wearing the Madrid jacket again in front of the Santiago Bernabeu, 268 days after his serious knee injury. “This is a personal victory for my fight this season. Feeling like a Real Madrid player again is a very nice feelingCourtois told RealMadrid TV, after this release came later than expected. The plan was to play a friendly match in March, but unfortunately I tore my meniscus. I hadn’t played an 11v11 match in 9 months. But I felt good, I read the spaces well. I have not forgotten.”
gullA personal victory for my fight this season.
It was also obviously his very first match in front of his daughter Ellie, born on April 2, who was present in the stands in the arms of his wife Mishel Gerzig. “It was a very nice day to come back. I dreamed of being able to do this for my children (Editor’s note: he has two other children from his previous relationship) and my family”rejoices the one who didn’t just make up the numbers against Cadiz.
Even if we saw him play a lot with his feet as the first receiver, it was thanks to his body and his hands that he had to pull out all the stops at the start of the second half. “It’s a great victory, which perhaps starts with this 0-0 stop. I go get the ball, we play, and from there it’s 1-0. I’m happy to have been able to participate and feel like a goalkeeper again after so long.”
A 19th trophy
After this solid success (3-0), the evening continued in a select committee, with the broadcast of the FC Barcelona defeat in Girona (4-2) which formalized the 36th Spanish championship title for the Madrilenians. A coronation which, thanks to his first minutes of the season, is obviously added to Thibaut Courtois’s list of achievements. The almost 32-year-old goalkeeper (May 11), champion of Spain for the 4th time, thus wins the 19th trophy of his career which brings him closer to the record set by Kevin De Bruyne (22).
A twentieth could still fall this season with the Champions League. Like Simon Mignolet with Liverpool in 2019, Courtois could indeed be officially the winner without having played if he appears on the scoresheet for the final. To think about it, however, we will first have to beat Bayern on Wednesday. “I hope everyone comes to the stadium dressed in white and we can experience one of those incredible evenings at the Bernabeu”motivates Courtois who will be the first supporter of Andriy Lunin, his usual understudy.
The Ukrainian will remain the starter for the Champions League (at least the semi-final second leg) while Courtois will play in the championship. “He needs minutes and in these La Liga matches I will put him in”, explained Carlo Ancelotti. “I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play this season, but I’m here if they need me and help the team”punctuates Courtois who still secretly dreams of playing in the final at Wembley in four weeks.
“I had imagined this day several times”: Thibaut Courtois talks about his return to Real Madrid
