Courtois had a fantastic game at the Estadio de la Cerámica and his interventions were key in Real Madrid's win over Villarreal. After the game, he said: “The start wasn't the best but it's normal because we've had little rest and the legs were a little heavier than usual. We reacted well after the goal, equalized and quickly got ourselves ahead, and then defended well in the second half. The commitment and hard work from everyone to get the win was very important because Villarreal are fifth, they play well and it's always a difficult place to go“.
”We play when we have to play and we don't want to look for excuses. I'm happy to be able to be speaking now without saying that we drew or lost because of lack of rest. But it's not normal after playing 120 minutes on Wednesday and the penalty shootout, with huge physical effort, to play today at 6:30 p.m.... I understand that LaLiga doesn't like to set the schedules so that the big three play on the same day, but sometimes that’s what it takes, and in the Premier League the teams that play in the Champions League all play on Saturday.”
“I think it was a lack of respect towards our team and our players, because someone might have got injured today. The physical toll is very high. The game could be put on Sunday before Atlético-Barcelona. I don't think there's any problem, you could even talk about a Super Sunday like we do in Belgium or in England, where they both have it. It's also good for television but other interests sometimes come into play and it's not easy“.
What was the best save you made today?
”I'll go with the one before the goal but if they score a goal after 20 seconds it's not worth much. Ayoze was looking at me and saying 'You're not normal'. The save from Pepe before the break was also important to keep us from going in level. It was a good team effort and I'm happy with the three points“.
Mbappé
”He's a great player, incredible. He's there when we need him. The games against Atlético were a bit more difficult because they defended a lot and didn't allow much space. Today he was there to score both goals”.