‘That’s why Madrid signed him’ – Mohamed Salah hails Courtois

FT Desk

13 Jun 2022 15:00 BST
3 min read

Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has hailed Thibaut Courtois and says that the Real Madrid goalkeeper was the reason the Blancos won the Champions League.

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Madrid claimed their fourteenth Champions League at the end of May after beating Liverpool 1-0 at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

Vinicius Jr scored the only goal of the game in the second half but there was no doubt that Courtois was the man of the match.

The Belgian shot-stopper made a string of sensational saves during the game, most notably from Sadio Mane and Salah.

And Salah has now commented on that final defeat, saying that Courtois was the difference between the teams and that he justified Madrid’s decision to sign him.

What did Salah say?

"We deserved to win, we had more chances," Salah told France Football.

"I had two or three clear chances but Thibaut Courtois made incredible saves. It's his job, that's what Real Madrid signed him for. It was his night."

Courtois blocking out the haters ❌ pic.twitter.com/gxDBSywvGn
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 28, 2022

Courtois signed for Real Madrid from Chelsea in 2018 for a fee of around €40 million.

He endured a difficult first campaign, with many questioning whether Madrid were right to replace long-standing number one Keylor Navas.

But Courtois has emerged in the last few years as one of the best goalkeepers in the world again.

And this season, the 30-year-old has been arguably the best goalkeeper on the planet.

He boasted the highest save percentage of any keeper in the Champions League with 80% and narrowly missed out on the Zamora trophy for the lowest goals-to-game ratio, with Sevilla's Yassine Bounou achieving 0.77 per game compared to Courtois' 0.81.

Courtois' nine saves in the Champions League final was the same number that Alisson had made in the entire tournament while his 59 saves more than Ederson had made in 37 Premier League games.