Courtois makes claim for Legendary status at Madrid after heroics inspire club to win 14th UCL title

General

The world witnessed one of the greatest shows of goalkeeping on Saturday night in Paris, France, when Liverpool locked horns with Real Madrid in the finals of the 2021/22 Uefa Champions League competition.

The hero of the day is Belgian giant Thibaut Courtois.

Standing at 2m, the Real Madrid goalkeeper was the difference of the historic night at the Stade de France as his outstanding saves kept his team in the game throughout the 90 minutes of the superb contest.

On the night, Liverpool, tagged as favourites lived up to expectations, taking the game to the opponent in a bid to get an early goal.

While the English giants may have succeeded in dominating proceedings in the first 30 minutes, the attackers of the side, unfortunately, lacked efficiency.

Several attempts at goal failed to find the back of the net. In truth though, Thibaut Courtois made himself a wall to deny the reds on several occasions.

Especially in the second half, the Belgian made a case for a legendary status at Real Madrid when he denied Mohammed Salah on multiple occasions.

A curling effort from the edge of the box appeared to be heading for the corner of the Real Madrid post in the 64th minute. Whiles Liverpool fans watched on, Courtois stretched full length to parry the ball to safety.

Five minutes later, the Egyptian got himself into a good position and latched onto a lofted cross. From close range, Courtois again made himself big to deny Liverpool from scoring.

Topping a series of saves with high claims in his area, the Real Madrid goalkeeper inspired his defense to keep fighting as the Spanish champions cruised to a 1-0 win at full-time thanks to a tap-in by Vinicius Jnr with an assist from Federico Valverde.

For his out-of-the-world performance tonight, Thibaut Courtois deservedly finished the encounter as the Man-of-the-Match.

Courtesy of the success tonight, Real Madrid have now won the Uefa Champions League for a record 14th time.

Liverpool have six titles but feel they could have made it seven today. Rightly so, especially when the data from the match as provided by SofaScore points in that direction.

Not only did the English Premier League side enjoy the lion’s share of possession but the team also had more shots on goal, more shots on target, and even won the passing battle in terms of accuracy.

Following his latest triumph in the Uefa Champions League competition with Real Madrid, Italian tactician Carlo Ancelotti has become the first manager in history to lift the trophy four times.

He won the enviable trophy with AC Milan in 2003 and 2007 and has now won it with Real Madrid in 2014 and 2022.

Source: Modern Ghana