Thibaut Courtois shares secret to saving Lionel Messi penalty and slams Real Madrid stars
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Thibaut Courtois has opened up on how he denied Lionel Messi from the penalty spot – before tearing into his Real Madrid team-mates following their last-gasp 1-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Real were on the verge of heading into the second leg against PSG on level terms after Courtois thwarted Messi from the spot just after the hour mark.
But Mbappe broke Real hearts by firing home in stoppage time to hand the French giants a slender advantage ahead of the return leg at the Bernabeu.
And that late goal could prove fatal to Real’s hopes of adding to their remarkable tally of 13 European titles.
Speaking after the match, Courtois revealed his thinking ahead of his spot-kick showdown with Messi.
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“Obviously he shoots a lot of penalties, so it’s hard to guess right,” the former Chelsea keeper told BT Sport.
“He missed a few on this side, so I think it was obvious he was going to the left.
“Maybe to the middle, he scored one against Leipzig.
“I just said ‘okay, we’ll go left’, and I had a good save.”
Courtois’ heroics had looked set to be enough to ensure Real headed into the second leg on level terms before Mbappe’s late intervention.
And the Belgian shot-stopper couldn’t hide his frustration after the final whistle.
“Yeah, bit annoying, we lost the ball in midfield and he goes away easy from two players,” he added.
“I had to close the angle so I went down as fast as I could to block the low side, where he likes to shoot is on the left side, but the ball went just in the right space under my body.
“It was hard to take after such a game.
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“But nothing is lost, we just have to win at home. Even with a draw we still had to win at home. Now it just has to happen in 90 minutes.”
Although Real were on the verge of escaping from Paris with the scores level, they were dominated by the hosts for the majority of the evening at the Parc des Princes.
PSG had only themselves to blame after they failed to make the most of a staggering 21 attempts on goal.
Ironically, Mbappe has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid once his PSG contract expires in the summer.
But on this occasion, he was the architect of their downfall after his last-gasp strike sent Paris potty.
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