Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand stunned by Real Madrid hero Thibaut Courtois after Champions League final win

Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand were blown away by Thibaut Courtois’ performance as Real Madrid beat Liverpool in the Champions League final.

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Courtois was at his brilliant best for the Spanish champions on Saturday night, making a number of superb saves to help Real Madrid triumph in Paris and win their 14th Champions League.

Courtois denied Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane before half-time and produced a stunning save to keep out Salah in the second half after Vinicius Junior put Real Madrid ahead.

Largely thanks to Courtois, Vinicius’ second-half goal proved decisive as Liverpool were denied a seventh Champions League title and a third trophy of the season.

Speaking after Real Madrid’s narrow win, Anfield legend Gerrard and Manchester United great Rio Ferdinand both singled out Courtois for praise on BT Sport.

Ferdinand said: ‘With a couple of the saves, it was almost as if you had to look at each other in disbelief and go, “wow, how has he done that?”

‘He looked like a man possessed in that goal. Mo Salah couldn’t do any more, it’s just fantastic goalkeeping from Courtois. He was phenomenal tonight.’

<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>“This was an inspired performance from the very start of the game.” @rioferdy5, @themichaelowen and Steven Gerrard are in awe of Thibaut Courtois’ display tonight! âï¸#UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/ZGG1F91qCp

Ex-Liverpool captain Gerrard added: ‘He totally deserved the Man of the Match award. He’s faced nine shots today and the second one from Sadio Mane is world-class, the last one from Salah is even better.

‘To get that strong an arm on it and push it wide was phenomenal. The Salah save… wow.’

Former England striker Michael Owen was also full of praise for Courtois after