Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid’s calm, methodical keeper to meet Liverpool again

May 28, 2022, at the Stade de France. At around 8:50pm, there was, in theory, just 10 minutes to go until kick-off in the Champions League final, the match every footballer dreams of. But something wasn’t right. Outside, the area around the stadium had been transformed into a nightmarish scene for fans.

Many supporters couldn’t get into the ground and there were dangerous crushes. Innocent match-goers were tear-gassed by police simply for being in the vicinity.

The growing alarm and concern reached the players. In the Real Madrid dressing room, Thibaut Courtois was worried. He picked up his mobile and made a phone call.

“Are you alright? Are you sure? OK, thank you.”

For the person on the other end of the line, it was Tibu, or Tibo, who was calling; this is how the 30-year-old is known by those closest to him. They describe him as calm and caring, always thinking about his children, his girlfriend, his friends and the rest of his family, including his ex-wife and mother of his children. Above all, they say, he is a very normal guy.

Then there is Courtois the goalkeeper, the man everyone sees on the pitch, one of the best players in the world.

That night in Paris, after checking that his loved ones were safe, the Belgian put on his gloves, waited for the game to start and completed what surely must be counted among the greatest performances in a Champions League final.

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Liverpool began that 2022 final on top and seemingly in control. The first clear chance came from Mohamed Salah, with an early shot in the six-yard box Courtois had to match. Then came a spectacular effort from Sadio Mane that the Belgian forced onto his post. This was, in the goalkeeper’s opinion, his best save of the night.

In total, Courtois made nine stops — more than half of them worthy of any highlights reel. Since Opta began compiling such statistics in 2004, no goalkeeper has ever recorded so many saves in a Champions League final. Madrid secured the trophy through Vinicius Junior’s second-half winner, but Courtois was named man of the match and, of course, no one dared question the decision.

Courtois also completed last season’s Champions League not only as the goalkeeper with the most saves in the tournament (59) but with the highest save percentage, too, stopping 80.6 per cent of the efforts he faced.

After the match, Courtois was asked about his impressive work. “I just felt it was my day, that I could save everything,” he said.

Those who witness Courtois’ routine and habits say he is a person who likes to train. He does it every day, either at the club’s training ground or at home, or both. He’s described as very methodical and also as someone without rituals or superstitions. One of the most important aspects of his approach off the pitch is nutrition. He has a chef on his staff who helps him take care of his diet to enhance his physique.

Just like in the Real Madrid dressing room, where team-mates see him as the best goalkeeper in the world, at Valdebebas they are delighted with him, and they have been for a long time. They consider his signing a historic success — Madrid paid Chelsea €40million (£35.5m; $42.7m) when completing his transfer in 2018.

Courtois joined for six seasons until 2024, but renewed his contract in 2021, signing until 2026. Agreement was reached very quickly — the agent made a proposal to the club and it was all sorted at a meeting within a matter of minutes a month later. The deal was done with total discretion — word only reached the media via an official statement when all was ready.

Madrid have won eight trophies since he joined: two La Liga titles, two Club World Cups, one European Super Cup and two Spanish Supercopas. That night in Paris saw him lift the Champions League trophy for the first time.

In the stands, his close family and friends were there, too. What was it like for them?

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“It’s like watching a film,” says a source close to Courtois, who preferred to remain anonymous to protect their position.

“You see him and you feel like he’s in a trance, to the point where it seems impossible for him to concede a goal. It’s magic, it’s awesome. We are in tears when we see it live.

“Talking to us, he doesn’t usually highlight his saves. He analyses them naturally, not as something superhuman. But he knows that it is very difficult for a Champions League final to be decided by a performance from a goalkeeper.

“He’s very confident, that’s the key.”

Courtois’ confidence should once again be high. This month he was nominated for what would be a second goalkeeping trophy at FIFA’s The Best awards.

He is in good shape, having just overcome a minor injury suffered in the warm-up of a La Liga match against Mallorca on February 5, a problem that saw him miss the Club World Cup. He was well enough to travel for the final on February 11 but a decision made by Madrid, whose policy is not to take risks with injured players, prevailed. So there was no rush for him to return for the league match against Elche the following Wednesday either.

Instead, Courtois was back on Saturday, marking the trip to Osasuna with a clean sheet in his 100th league win for Real Madrid. He’s still as important as he has ever been to Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

From a shot-stopping perspective, we can use data to look at how many goals Courtois has been expected to concede since 2019-20, using the ‘expected goals on target’ (xGOT) metric, which considers the quality of the on-target attempts a goalkeeper has faced, accounting for factors such as the placement in the goal and the angle from which the shot is taken.

We can then compare this to how many goals he did concede, forming the metric of ‘goals prevented’. The higher the goals prevented number, the better the shot-stopping performance.

The graphic below shows just how well Courtois has been performing over the past few seasons. In 2019-20, he saved 6.8 xGOT. In 2020-21, it was 6.0. In 2021-22, it was 4.9. This season, the Belgian has so far let in 1.0 more than expected, which is closer to the average. But the overall picture still illustrates that, compared to the average goalkeeper, he has prevented about 16 more goals than would be expected.

On Tuesday evening, Courtois and his Madrid team-mates face Liverpool again, 270 days on from the night he left the Stade de France as a hero. After the game, Courtois also appeared to want to settle accounts with the English game, where he will be examined once more this week.

“A magazine there didn’t put me in the top 10 goalkeepers in the world in March,” the Belgian said in May.

“I’m not saying I have to be the first one, I don’t care. There’s Alisson, Edouard Mendy, there are a lot of great goalkeepers. But not to put me in the top 10?

“Maybe it’s because of how I left Chelsea, but I won two Premier League titles there. I don’t think I’ve been recognised enough.”

The message was loud and clear, and perhaps this week he will find the same motivation again.

(Top photo: ANP via Getty Images)