Courtois: How I saved Messi’s penalty
FT Desk
- 16 Feb 2022 22:45 GMT
- 3 min read
Thibaut Courtois has revealed how he managed to save Lionel Messi’s penalty during the Champions League clash on Tuesday.
PSG defeated Real Madrid 1-0 in the first leg of the Champions League last-16 clash at the Parc des Princes.
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Kylian Mbappe scored the winner in injury time after a moment of individual skill, before tucking the ball through the legs of Courtois.
But earlier in the second half, Courtois had kept the scores goalless with a brilliant penalty save from Messi.
The Madrid goalkeeper dived low to his left to parry away the Argentine’s spot-kick.
"Obviously he shoots a lot of penalties in a season so it's hard to guess right," Courtois told BT Sport.
"But he missed a few ones on this side [the right] so I think it was obvious he was going to the left.
"Maybe in the middle he scored one against Leipzig, so I just said 'okay we will go left' and I had a good save."
Courtois’ penalty save piled on the misery on Messi in what has been a disappointing first season in Paris.
Messi completed a shock Bosman Transfer to PSG last summer after he was unable for legal and financial reasons to sign a new contract with Barcelona.
The Argentine superstar broke virtually every record possible during the 21 years he spent at Barca, including scoring an incredible 672 goals in 778 games.
However, Messi has struggled badly so far to replicate these kind of figures at the Parc des Princes.
He has scored just two Ligue 1 goals this season, although he does have five strikes in six games in the Champions League.
Messi has been overshadowed this season in Paris by Mbappe, who once again proved to be the match-winner against Madrid.
