“PSG is an early final”

Ancelotti’s Madrid is the leader, Benzema is the top scorer and Thibaut Courtois (Bree, Belgium, May 11, 1992) he is the goalkeeper with the fewest goals scored in the championship (by average). The Italian and the French have already passed through the pages of AS to offer their impressions. Today it’s up to the goalkeeper, currently without question the best in the world in his position. It is the wall of Europe.

You are 29 years old and the names of Hugo Sánchez and Buyo will almost sound like prehistory. But they were the ‘Pichichi’ and the ‘Zamora’ of Madrid, champion of the League in the 1987-88 season. Will history repeat itself with Courtois and Benzema?

Those names sound familiar to me, but when that happened I hadn’t been born yet. Obviously it’s a very nice fact that shows that the team is doing a good job, but the season is long and if we don’t win the title in the end, this data will be irrelevant.

You are not only the goalkeeper with the fewest goals scored in Spain, you also have the best average in the Champions League, only behind Mendy (Chelsea), but he has played one less game. Courtois is the wall of Europe.

I’m proud because this year I’m playing at a good level, but we need to finish it off with titles. Last season was good for me too, but we got to May without titles and that hurts. The most beautiful thing for us is to win, as we recently did with the Spanish Super Cup.

Does Courtois feel that he is at his peak, in the best moment of his career?

I feel fine, yes. But we are doing a good defensive job and that also helps the goalkeeper, the whole team. This is the line that I want to maintain until the end of the season and that is how the titles will come.

In Madrid there is, of all life, a curious circumstance: almost all their defenses have the soul of forwards. Militao is the team’s best header, Alaba takes free kicks, the full-backs spend almost more time up than down… how does the goalkeeper feel?

I have to adapt to the situation and Madrid’s style. Real Madrid is an attacking team that likes to attack and score goals. That will open gaps that will bring us dangerous cons, and they have already scored a goal for us. But on the other hand that forces me to be active, to participate a lot. I pay attention to the surveillance, I talk to my teammates, not only with the defenders, but even with midfielders like Casemiro, to yell at him, stay! when I see that it is necessary. It is also the goalkeeper’s job to talk to the defenders to warn them of dangerous situations, so that the opponent’s counterattacks can be avoided. It’s not easy, but I prefer livelier games to be more busy and enjoy the game more than just being under the goal doing nothing, bored. When you win four to nil you enjoy your teammates scoring goals, but if they don’t reach you then it’s just a game for the goalkeeper. What’s cool is winning two or three to nil, but it’s a match in which you’ve had to speak, to intervene. I like to enjoy myself in goal.

Courtois has an enviable record, but has yet to win a European title with Real Madrid. Is your secret ambition the Champions League?

My biggest dream is to win a Champions League with Real Madrid, but it’s not an obsession either. Real Madrid is the history of the European Cup, and being part of that history would be very nice. I have won great titles, such as the Premier or the League, and also others in Europe. But to round off my record, it would be very cool for me to lift a Champions League before retiring.

What feelings do you have a few days before the tie against PSG?

They are a tough rival and it will be a very difficult and competitive tie. It will be an early final. But Real Madrid is at a good level and I think we can go through. It will be a game in which they will decide the details, such as a save or a goal. The key will be to be focused and united and to arrive well, without casualties or injuries.

Who worries you more, Messi or Mbappé?

PSG have great players like Messi, Mbappé, Neymar… but it’s more than that. It is a complete block. They have talent in all lines, but today’s football is more of a team than of individuals because if you’re afraid, in quotes, of someone, then it turns out that another appears and complicates you. It is true that a talented player can score a goal out of nowhere, but you have to worry more about stopping their virtues as a team.

What strengths as a team does PSG have?

It is a team that likes to have the ball, so we will have to try to take the ball from them. But they also have quality and speed up front, so it will be important to stop the counterattacks when we have a turnover. And then it will be important that we show our effectiveness, which consists of keeping a clean sheet and, if we have three chances, scoring two.

In the quarterfinals of the Champions League, the English teams dominate, with four representatives. Why do you think it is?

In the Premier there has been good management in recent years and in England there is more economic power. It has been seen with the pandemic, because there they have continued to buy good players despite this problem. But hey, football isn’t just about money. Last season Madrid eliminated Liverpool, although they couldn’t beat Chelsea. We’ll see this season, Real Madrid is strong and will fight until the end. But well, it is clear that in England even the teams that are behind, like this year for example Newcastle or Norwich, because the amount they receive just for television rights is more than what the teams receive in Spain or Italy.

Before that Champions League match against PSG, we have to play the Copa del Rey, next week, again against Athletic in San Mamés. Is the Cup also a goal for Real Madrid?

Of the rivals that are in the quarterfinals, it is not easy at all to go to San Mamés to play against Athletic. But I like the Cup. I like this knockout format because it gives more interest and excitement to the tournament. Even if it were up to me, I would do everything like this, from start to finish. Like in the FA Cup. But the Cup is exciting and in San Mamés I expect a great game with a great atmosphere, as always in Bilbao. In addition, Athletic wants us because we have played three recent games against them and all three have been equal, in which anyone could have won but in which everyone fell on our side. So I hope that next week too. But Athletic is a great rival, a hard-working team that runs and fights. But Real Madrid will go to San Mamés with the aim of going to the semis, even with extra time and penalties without need.

Would you pay for the plane for the Brazilians to return as soon as possible to play on February 3 in San Mamés?

Better we put a pot between the entire dressing room… In short, we all understand that there has been a pandemic and that it is a pity that this selection date coincides with the quarterfinals of the Cup. Casemiro, Vinicius and Militao are important, as Rodrygo and Valverde, who play a lot of minutes. But in December we also went to play at San Mamés with many casualties due to the pandemic and we showed our faces. Well, my companions will return but perhaps not in optimal conditions because they will have a long trip. It’s a shame because it’s a nice and important game, but I’m not saying that the fault lies with the Spanish Federation or whoever has made the calendar, it’s just that there were no other dates available.

Don’t mess with the calendar because then you already know what happens, that they don’t give you The Best or the Ballon d’Or or give you anything…

Yeah, yeah… (laughs).

So, is the goal the treble: League, Cup and Champions?

Soccer is complicated and you don’t know the obstacles that are in the way. We are Real Madrid and our goal is to fight to the end in each competition. The players take it to heart and it is our goal. But you have to go little by little. The first thing now is the Cup, in Bilbao. Then there will be important league games, which Elche and Getafe have already drawn because there is no easy opponent, and then PSG will come and we still haven’t gotten anywhere. The season is very long.

Ancelotti said in this same newspaper that you had to be careful with Atlético in the Champions League, do you agree?

Atleti is always there, always fights and always fights. There have been potholes this season, but they are still there. In the League, everyone can win or lose against anyone, and nothing is decided until it’s over. And in the Champions League, because Atleti knows how to play the knockout rounds, they are a great player in Europe and they will be there too.

How do you see Hazard?

I see you well. Now the injuries are respecting him more and he is training very well. Before Christmas he played two very good games and in San Mamés we saw the usual Hazard. But then there are the decisions of the coach, and if you have Vinicius plugged in, then there is no room for other wingers. Each one has to fight in training to earn the position. The other day I think that Hazard played a good game against Elche and we saw him with that initiative to take the ball and go two or three, to create spaces. A great Hazard would help us win games and titles.

It has drawn attention that Courtois has not appeared among the best goalkeepers for the big trophies of the year…

There are people who follow the Premier, others LaLiga and then there are the titles that are being won both with the clubs and with the national teams. They are the ones who win the prizes because they attract more attention. For example, I raised The Best in 2018 because I won the Gold Glove at the World Cup in Russia. That’s why I don’t take this to heart. What I value is that my teammates, my team and my coach value me. What I value is the affection that all the madridistas give me every time I play at the Bernabéu. If then all this is accompanied by individual trophies, the better. But the important thing is the club.

Will you, who play goalkeeper, be calmer if you see that next year Mbappé and Haaland, to give two examples, play in white at the Bernabéu?

Obviously they are two great players, very young, who are marking a new era. But hey, this is not my issue. Other people will have to decide. But it is evident that they are two cracks and if they play in your team, it is better than if they do it in another, but I insist that this is no longer my thing…