Thibaut Courtois for bouncing back after a difficult start in Spain was praised by Belgian head coach Roberto Martinez.
At the 2018 World Cup, the goalkeeper played for the Belgian national team but suffered a drop in shape in his first season at Real Madrid. Courtois became the undoubted No.1 in his second campaign for Zinedine Zidane and one of the key players in Los Blancos.
“He hasn’t changed, and that’s a good thing. Everything that happened on the pitch, I don’t think it ever affected Thibaut in a decisive way. He understood he had to develop his performance and, in a sense, stay at his best stage. I was looking at him with great pride,” Martinez told El Bernabeu.
“Seeing Thibaut trying to struggle to stay at the stage he has achieved is that he is well equipped to be the goalkeeper of Real Madrid. The simple way might have been throwing in the towel or beginning to blame someone because you are in such a tough position.”
“Thibaut did the opposite. He displayed amazing wisdom, great self-criticism to the extent where he was important to Real Madrid. In modern football, there are no goalkeepers like Thibaut,” Martinez continued.
