Thibaut Courtois is angry at the press- ‘Real Madrid is not a kindergarten’
The goalkeeper of Real Madrid, Thibaut Courtois, has responded in detail to many issues in the papers, following their victory over Manchester City on Wednesday night. The Belgian striker wanted to dispel the idea that his teammates were misunderstood and had more power than the manager.
Courtois enjoyed another good night against City, making a crucial save from Nico O’Reilly, but also provided the assist for Fede Valverde for the first goal.
“They know I have a good long-range shot. Obviously, I’m not Ter Stegen, but I have a good long-range shot; we worked on it, especially against teams that leave a lot of space at the back. And this, with good football like those in the Champions League, makes those passes come out,” Cadena told SER after the game.
‘You think this is a nursery, but we are trained staff’
Courtois was also keen to respond to many of the stories published in the papers, saying much of the speculation surrounding the club in recent months is true.
“We don’t read what you say (laughing) I’m at home and I’m analyzing what I have to analyze with Llopis. [Luis Llopis, goalkeeping coach]. Some things pass, we’re not on Mars, but we don’t always pay attention to what you say. You say things you think are true, when they are not. Obviously, no one is going to come out and say otherwise, but I read things… oh my god (laughs)! It’s your job and I respect that,” he later commented to Diario AS.
The Real Madrid dressing room has been painted as a group of stars who need to be treated as such by their manager, whoever it is, for fear of defections. Courtois said he and his colleagues followed the manager’s instructions to the letter.
“You think this is a nursery and we do whatever we want. It’s not. We respect the coaches, the technical staff, everyone. A lot of criticism is wrong. Some are allowed, and that’s right. Sometimes we play badly: against Celta, Getafe… Part of us has to be to blame, and I accept that. But today was a step forward as a team, and we will fight for that, and we will fight for that.
“I feel that in my first year we were in a worse situation than now, and there wasn’t this toxic situation. We need more respect in the dressing room. Saying things like we have more power than the manager or that we didn’t want to play in Albacete is unacceptable. We are professionals and we always do what the manager tells us. That doesn’t exist here.” This is Real Madrid.
‘No one has put Xabi Alonso higher’ – Courtois
After the arrival of Alvaro Arbeloa saw similar results early on, the fingers of blame are pointing towards the Real Madrid players. However, there was a series of issues that did not change with the predecessor Alonso, who felt that his approach involved more video analysis.
“I don’t think so. Nobody stopped Xabi. To say that we don’t like tricks, that we don’t like videos … I was with Antonio Conte, and you would spend an hour there (watching videos). And I didn’t care, because we are professionals. My job. It’s one thing to play with your friends. There, watching a video, not watching. I watch it.”
“We are preparing for the match. I spoke to the NFL in the summer, and they watch videos all the time. Our professionalism has been questioned. The first few months with Xabi went very well. And we had a bad rhythm, we couldn’t find our rhythm, but he is not in charge, the manager, and we have to respect that.”
It has been a difficult season at the Bernabeu, with two management changes in the space of seven months. Trailing Barcelona by four points in La Liga, their win over City was one of the few times Los Blancos have put it together in recent months, and with Arbeloa the third manager to try to get the best out of the current squad with mixed results, changing the coach no longer looks like a straightforward solution.
