Real Madrid star explains what he did to knock Liverpool off their stride | OneFootball

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois claims his key saves from Mo Salah and James Milner knocked Liverpool off their stride on Wednesday night.

Courtois says it was a difficult game for Real Madrid and explains that they were not happy with the way they used the ball going forward, but has praised his teammates for digging in to secure their qualification.

The Belgian international says his save from Salah with his feet and his brilliant top corner stop to deny Milner made it harder for Liverpool as they failed to maintain their stride after those misses.

Speaking after the game, Courtois offered his thoughts on how the match went. “It was a very tough game but you know that’s what to expect when you come to Anfield. We were able to dig in, we defended really well and I made some saves. We could have perhaps been a bit better with the ball and finish the game off up top but it wasn’t our day from an offensive perspective.

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“We came into today off the back of two really difficult games and maybe we just lacked the legs in attack but defensively we ran as if we had twelve men on the pitch. It was unbelievable. Everyone has to put that effort in when we’re taken to the limit. We had to dig in and give it our all and that’s what we did. That’s crucial for the team’s desire and in order to show we’re a unit

“I made two good saves in the first half. One from Salah that was difficult at my feet and could always slip through my legs. It was a good stop right at the start. Then I pulled one out of the top corner from Milner. That seemed to knock them off their stride a bit and in the end they didn’t score any, it became more difficult for them.”

ANFIELD WATCH VERDICT

Before the game on Wednesday, we published an article outlining Courtois’ superb career record against Liverpool – especially at Anfield – and, unfortunately, he showed exactly why he is one of the top goalkeepers around. Going into the match, he was on a run of one loss in nine meetings with Liverpool throughout his time at Chelsea and Real Madrid and had never conceded more than one goal at Anfield. He was able to stretch that to one loss in 10 games and continue his record of not conceding more than one at Anfield, as he kept a clean sheet after making those superb stops from Salah and Milner.

Had one of those shots squirmed in it could have given Liverpool the confidence to then go on and potentially qualify for the semi-finals. Instead, Liverpool failed to take their chances and the game ended 0-0, with the Reds losing the tie 3-1 on aggregate following the loss in Spain last week. This shows the impact that having a world-class goalkeeper can have, as Liverpool have found out in the past with Alisson. The Brazilian once made a brilliant save against Napoli in the Champions League to help Liverpool qualify from the group stages, before they went on to win the entire competition.