Champions League Final: Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois Earns Respect With Heroics To Thwart Liverpool

If Real Madrid's Champions League final win in 2018 was remembered for a nightmare performance by Loris Karius in the Liverpool goal, the Spanish club's victory over the same opponents in Paris on Saturday was in no small part down to the heroics of Thibaut Courtois.

The Belgian showed the importance of having a top-class goalkeeper as he produced a string of crucial saves to deny Jurgen Klopp's side and help Real seal a 1-0 win that allowed them to lift their 14th European Cup.

"When a goalkeeper is man of the match you know something is going wrong for the other team," admitted Klopp ruefully.

Vinicius Junior may have got the only goal at the Stade de France just before the hour mark, but Real's victory would not have been possible without Courtois.

He was credited with a total of nine saves, including a superb strong arm to turn behind a Mohamed Salah strike late on and, perhaps most importantly, a fine early stop to turn a Sadio Mane shot onto the post when Liverpool were in the ascendancy.

"The most important was the save from Mane. I really had to use my two metres to get there and turn fast to get the rebound," Courtois said after collecting his award for man of the match.

The 30-year-old has enjoyed remarkable success in his career ever since winning the Belgian league in 2011 with Genk alongside a young Kevin De Bruyne.

Domestic titles have followed at Atletico Madrid, Chelsea and with Real, while he also won the Europa League in his time with the red and white half of Madrid.

Beaten in 2014 final

Yet his spell at Atletico also included an agonising defeat at the hands of Ancelotti's Real in the 2014 Champions League final.

Referencing Italy legend Gianluigi Buffon, who never won a Champions League, Courtois