Courtois: “Everything is still to play for in the return leg”

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois talked to the press after the team’s 1-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League’s Round of 16. Courtois completed an excellent performance and was the main reason why Madrid are still in the tie.

“We’ve come here and faced a side who are very strong in attacking terms. Champions League games are different to the LaLiga matches. We got off to a pretty decent start, but we didn’t manage to keep our composure. We were made to suffer out of possession and didn’t do very well on the counter-attack. Everything’s still to play for in the return leg,” he said.

However, Courtois didn’t shy away from the fact that it was a disappointing performance for Los Blancos.

“It’s very hard to take. We didn’t put in a good performance, but we’ll do better back at the Bernabéu. I hope that we manage to do it with the support of our fans. As a goalkeeper, you know that you’re going to be busy in games like this. I tried to keep a clean sheet and for them to score as they did was a real setback, but we’ve got an important LaLiga game coming up at home and have to keep winning,” he explained.

Courtois saved a penalty taken by Messi during the second half when the game was still 0-0, keeping Real Madrid in the game.

“I’d studied him quite a lot from when he played at Barcelona. He has missed three here in the league by going to the right and it was a case of playing with him and diving to my left. It was good that it kept us in the game, but conceding in the last minute is hard to take,” he added.

Casemiro and Mendy will miss the return leg against PSG after getting booked at the Parc des Princes.

“It’s a shame that they won’t be available, but we’ve got a strong squad. I don’t know whether or not the foul by Mendy was a booking and I feel as if the referee was too keen to give out yellow cards here tonight. We have to give it everything we have against them in March, those of us who play will fight hard and try to come through,” he explained.

Courtois wrapped up his media availability by praising Kylian Mbappe, who scored the game-winning goal in injury time.

“I managed to stop him a few times but in the last move he showed his quality and his class, that’s why he’s one of the best in the world,” he said.