Real Madrid recorded a vital 1-0 victory over Galatasaray in the Champions League group stages on Tuesday night.
Was it pretty? Not particularly, no. But even a 1-0 victory is better than no victory at all.
For significant periods, Real Madrid were looking shaky and uncomfortable on the Turkish pitch as their hosts had them pinned down and were creating numerous chances on the night.
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Luckily for them, they had Thibaut Courtois between the sticks.
And yes, this is definitely not something many Madridistas are used to hearing but the big Belgian goalie really did save their skin more than just once.
The 27-year-old has been a highly criticised figure at the club ever since he started producing sub-par performances week in, week out while donning the royal white of the Galacticos.
In fact, many of the fans were calling for Zidane to actually drop him before the clash and lo and behold, he ended up becoming the hero of the day.
Not only did Courtois finally tally a clean sheet in an important Champions League game but he also made three saves against Galatasaray, and with all three coming from inside the box too.
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When we compare that to his usual 1.1 saves per game in La Liga so far in the ongoing campaign, it really does put things into perspective.
Could this display actually mean that Courtois is slowly but surely getting back to his best?
It might as well because this was no ordinary game – it was a do or die situation for Real and with all the pressure from the fans on his shoulders, he had every reason to crumble.
But he didn’t.
The Courtois that we saw the other night is the exact Courtois Real saw at Chelsea and at his national team and that’s the goalkeeper who they thought would be worthy of donning their No.1 shirt.
But now comes the more difficult part of the job – keeping this up in the future fixtures.
The 27-year-old was a huge part of their victory over Galatasaray but now he needs to maintain this form.
It remains to be seen if he will be able to do so.