Belgian footballer Thibaut Courtois, the Real Madrid goalkeeper, stressed on Wednesday that both he and his teammates will “keep fighting” to advance to the next phase of the Champions League, despite the Merengues’ 2-0 defeat to the Liverpool FC on matchday five of the group stage.
“Maybe a little bit of play was missing in the end,” he answered Movistar Plus+ after the game when asked what his team was missing at Anfield. “We played better in the second half; but of course they defined well in the end and we are obviously missing some players. But we never use that as an excuse, we are who we are and we will keep fighting,” explained the Madrid goalkeeper.
“At the moment Liverpool are one of the strongest teams in Europe and we know it is always difficult to play here. I think we competed well, we fought well; We defended well, especially in the first half. But things weren’t going well for us offensively and we had difficulty creating danger,” he argued.
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He then highlighted “some good counterattacks” but they were not “well defined in the last pass or last dribble”. “In the second half they quickly took a 1-0 lead; We had a chance to equalize with the penalty, which unfortunately we missed, and yes, we kept trying. But with the second goal it became difficult,” Courtois added.
“I think we competed well and lost to a better team today and that’s okay. “Obviously it complicates things for us to get into the top eight, but we have to try to win against Atalanta, then win the two remaining games in January to qualify and then see who we play in February,” predicted he.
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On another point, he assessed Eduardo Camavinga’s injury. “It could be a strain that he felt, so obviously that’s two or three weeks at least. But like I said, we are who we are and we have to keep fighting and competing. And I think the guys in the academy are doing well too; for example, Raúl had a fantastic game today like a veteran. And if we have others, I am sure that the Castilla boys or the U19s will help us,” concluded the goalkeeper.
Dani Ceballos also spoke in front of the Movistar Plus+ microphones. “I think we couldn’t take advantage of the chance we had. I think the opposing team was better than us at times and the truth is that we didn’t find the rhythm of the game and had a lot of trouble damaging Liverpool,” explained the Spanish midfielder.
“It is true that we were in a middle block and felt quite comfortable; It didn’t cause us any danger, but it is true that when we won the ball back we were very far from the goal. So it was complicated and in the second half they scored the goal and the game became a little more difficult for us; “We had a penalty to get back into the game, we missed it and I think from then on the game became more complicated,” lamented Ceballos.
“Camavinga held the team together. I think he was the best player on the team in the first half; he had a very good game in the second half, just like in the last few games. It’s a shame about his injury because it also took away a bit of the balance we had in the transition from defense to attack,” he added.
Most recently, he commented on Kylian Mbappé’s missed penalty opportunity. “No one knows better than us what they are working on. It’s true that things aren’t going well at the moment and he’s not scoring as many goals as he would like. But we have to be patient with him. It’s difficult to come to a club like Real Madrid, fresh from winning all the titles, and to settle in in the first few months. I believe Kylian will bring a lot to this club and this team immediately,” concluded Ceballos.
