Thibaut Courtois joined Carlo Ancelotti in the press room at Stade du Roudourou, where he was first to discuss the match between Real Madrid and Brest: “We’re in good shape going into the game. We’re playing well, scoring a lot of goals and defending better. It’s going to be a tough match tomorrow. They're a physical side with real quality, they're strong at the back and throw men forward when they need to. They have a tall centre-forward and they look to exploit his strength in the air. We’ll have to be competitive, put on a good display and try to win it.”
“Mbappé is one of the best in the world. We're lucky enough to have lots of those in our team. Bellingham, Vini, Rodrygo and he are the best players in the world. Mbappé is a fantastic forward, we've come up against him on several occasions and you'd rather have him on your team."
How does the table look?
“The most important thing for us is to win our game, then we'll see where we finish when the other games are done. You can't afford to speculate, there are so many games. It's not tomorrow's game we should be winning, it's the others we've lost and that have resulted in us being outside the top eight. We're going to give it our best to try and finish as high as possible, then we'll see who we get."
How do you approach the game?
“It's vital to start the game well, from the first minute. We conceded early on against Las Palmas the other day, and we've struggled a bit at the start of either half in lots of games. Such an early goal makes the game unnecessarily harder. We’re more organised and we have to make sure all eleven of us are defending. The forwards have to cover certain spaces and press well. If they do that, the whole team will be defensively tighter."

“You need to consider all kinds of things when you're looking to find more balance. Even though we've lost a few games, we're still in with a chance. It's pretty tough to finish in the top eight now but even so, we can compete in the remaining games for a chance to fight against the best. Some of the big names have struggled a bit and the smaller sides have done a good job. It's about being well prepared. This is a competition where you never know what to expect, anyone could be favourite."
Brest's results
“I'm really surprised by the results they've picked up. They're competing really well, they're strong and play some good football. They look sharp physically and tomorrow's game will be special. We have to work hard and give it 100% from the first minute. They've shown they deserve to be where they are. We'll have to stay switched on at all times."
“I don't know their players, I only know the goalkeeper, he's played in Belgium. I saw some of his previous games, like the Leverkusen match, we've worked on those with the coach. It's fair to say they're a team who play to their strengths. They know how to use the ball and they don't leave you any spaces. They're usually very strong at home and it's sure to be a tough, intense game for us. We have to do our jobs and make the most of our quality if we want to get a good result. Our aim is to win the game."
Are you looking at upcoming big games?
“You're getting ahead of yourself. There are still lots of games left on the calendar. The derby isn't far away, but we're going to keep playing the games that come our way. It was a blow to lose the Super Cup final but we reacted well. We're still top of LaLiga, we want to win tomorrow, then on Saturday we've got a tough game against Espanyol, then it's the Copa, and after that the derby… We can't afford to look too far ahead. We will have to step things up in the big games, but we'll do that when the time comes. Every week we see that we have to stand up and win matches."
Alaba
“He looks good to me. After being out for a whole year, you have to rediscover your match sharpness. He has to find that match fitness when he comes off the bench. He looks really good in training. Only those of us who have been through it can really understand what a tough process it is. There are times when you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel and it's really difficult. I got the injury a little bit before he did, so I told him he'd be back out on the pitch in a few months and here we are. We're thrilled to have him back, he'll be a vital part of the team from here until the end of the season."