Thibaut Courtois: “They didn’t create many chances”

Thibaut Courtois spoke to the media after tonight’s 4 - 1 loss to Valencia, where he tried to make sense of what happened.

Zinedine Zidane’s quotes | Javi Gracia’s quotes

Courtois touched on many things, one being that Real Madrid actually didn’t concede many chances outside of the penalties they gave up.

“We started the match well, we went 1-0 up, we didn’t keep pressing high and then went behind,” Courtois said. “There were three penalties against us. They didn’t create many chances, the first one was a penalty because of a Lucas handball, I saved it, they took it again and I came close to saving it again. And the second goal was a bit of bad luck. After the break we were looking to turn things around because I think we could have done it today”.

Courtois also looked ahead to Real Madrid’s schedule after the international break, stating: “When we come back we have difficult matches: Villarreal, who are very strong, and Inter, where we are playing for the Champions League. So we can’t let this match affect us too much, we have to be mentally strong, know what we’ve done wrong and keep improving”.

Courtois also reflected on his own performance:

“Just at the start of the second half I made a good save that hit the post and then two more penalties. We had a lot of chances to score, but today it didn’t want to go in. Before the second goal I heard that Asensio was fouled, but the decisions was made and we can’t change anything”.

The Belgian goalkeeper was then asked about the absence of Casemiro:

“The philosophy of the coach is that there are 25 of us and all 25 can play because the season is long,” Courtois said. “We started the game well and in the second half it was difficult for us to respond. Some players weren’t here today, but those who played did well. We lost and that’ s not good, but now we’re going away with the national teams and it’s time to put this match behind us”.