Thibaut Courtois has claimed that Real Madrid’s disallowed goal put ‘fear’ into Liverpool during their Champions League final defeat in Paris.
Liverpool dominated for large parts of the first half, but on the stroke of half-time, Madrid came to life when Karim Benzema had a goal ruled out.
The Frenchman was in an offside position just before he scored, but after a lengthy VAR check, it was judged that the ball coming off Fabinho, and then landing in Benzema’s path was unintentional, therefore, the goal was ruled out.
At the time, it caused a bit of a stir, with Madrid supporters feeling the wrong call was made, although Vinicius Junior’s call in the second quickly changed their mood.
But with Courtois admitting that Liverpool were initially the ‘most dominant team’, he felt that moment brought the La Liga champions to life, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (28/05/22 at 11:10 pm).
“I think they were the most dominant team,” said Courtois. “But a final, you have to win. It’s sometimes hard and a goalkeeper also plays his part.
“We didn’t want them to play at the back of their defence because that’s their strength. In the first half, they did quite well – in general, it was my day.
“I think the disallowed goal gave them a bit more fear and gave us more confidence. In the second half, we played better.
“We were positioning ourselves better to cause them pain in the back of the left and right-back. I think that was the difference.”
COURTOIS HAS THE GAME OF HIS LIFE
That’s another final Liverpool have been a part of, yet they have failed to score, which is worrying for such a front-foot and attack-minded team.
But, in France’s capital, they came up against Courtois, who without a doubt, produced the best performance of his career, as he made ridiculous save after ridiculous save.
On one hand, the likes of Mo Salah and Sadio Mane will feel they threw everything at it, only to be denied by such brilliance from the Belgian.
But, at the end of the day, they were part of history repeating itself from four years ago, as Liverpool’s gruelling campaign ends on a sour note.
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