«It began to remind me of the end of 2022… He was amazing again.” In the mixed zone of Anfield, Virgil Van Dijk still couldn’t get rid of Thibaut Courtois of the head. The man who snatched the Liverpool the European Cup in Saint-Denis A little over three years ago with nine historic stops he appeared again in ‘red’ territory to despair the British team, incredulous at the Belgian’s flights. “Luckily, we found a way,” the Dutch center-back congratulated himself, happy for the goal of Mac Allister that closed a deserved victory.
Madrid, as in Paris, survived the time that its goalkeeper’s miracles lasted in an extraordinary display of hands and feet. «I have tried to support the team. It’s a shame», he admitted in the corridors of a stadium that he lives in fear of him. He 23.2% of the Courtois stops In the Champions League since the start of the 2022 final they have been against Liverpool, 29 of 125.
The siege of the English team on the Belgian goalkeeper was not just a sensation. The statistics confirm it. And only on that night in Paris in 2022 did Courtois have to intervene more times than yesterday. Nine in Saint-Denis, eight in his last appearance at Anfield, the same as against the City at the Bernabéu and against him PSG in Parisboth in 2022.
“too many fouls near the area”
A fact that explains that Xabi Alonso’s new Madrid is not far from what the white team has been in recent years. An extraordinary team, with superlative talent in attack, also supported by “the best goalkeeper in the world”, so called by Valverde in front of the press.
«We have made too many fouls near the area and they are good at that. Some were unnecessary and you had to pull the handbrake. We have to improve,” admitted the Belgian, who thus described his incredible save in the one-on-one with Szoboslai: «You have to occupy space and I saw that they were 2 against 1 and that he came alone. If I stay in the goal it is a penalty that is almost impossible to stop. When I saw the pass I went to reduce, I have long hands and arms and It’s a stop not from the goalkeeper’s manualbut it also works.
Courtois flew four times in the first half and another four after the break. Equal numbers, suffering and work for the Belgian, who had not received so many shots this season since the Madrid derby at the Metropolitano.
One of Courtois’ interventions, on Tuesday at Anfield.
That match, lost 5-2 by the whites, now appears as one of the two defeats of the season. Xabi Alonso and yours. A duel similar in sensations, but for the Tolosa coach it has nothing to do with it. «It’s been even. There are many ways to lose and today’s is very different from that of the Metropolitano,” Alonso said in the press room, where he appealed to the “details” that made the difference in a match in which “we competed well,” he insisted.
«Lack of attitude»
The Basque focused on individual errors, failures in marking and the granting of too many fouls and corners. In the end, everything led to the talent of Courtois, who has already accumulated 20 saves in this Champions League: four against Marseille, Kairat and Juventus and eight against Liverpool. On the average of their last seasons: 51 in the total of 2024-2025, with five at Anfield; and 42 in 2022-2023, with seven in the round of 16 tie against Liverpool.
«We have not had that feeling (of lack of intensity). “I think we have competed well,” said Alonso. «It was an even, demanding, high-paced game, and we needed to threaten the rival area a little more. Then in the second half there were details, we had to be in the game and not concede and we conceded many fouls, some corners… And that goal gave them the advantage. “It is the first phase and we will be able to recover points,” the coach continued.
It was harder Fede Valverdewho criticized that the team had a “lack of attitude” in set pieces. «With this shield you have to go out and win. We have to pay more attention. “You have to know how to suffer, know how to defend and improve,” he concluded.