Thibaut Courtois’ mere presence in goal adds a sense of reassurance to Real Madrid’s performances for his addition to the team automatically makes it tangibly more difficult for opposition to score.
The Belgian superstar was once again the hero on the night when Los Blancos took on Borussia Dortmund, racking up five saves and ensuring that the Germans did not pull clear early on.
After the game, however, the club revealed that the goalkeeper had once again suffered a muscular injury, thus ruling him out of action for around two to three weeks, meaning he will miss the El Clasico this weekend.
A short spell-out
As revealed in a recent update on DAZN, the Merengues are hopeful that Courtois will return to action and back to complete fitness after the next international break.
That implies that the player will likely miss Real Madrid’s next four games across all competitions including against Barcelona, Valencia, AC Milan and Osasuna.
The men in white return to action after the hiatus on 24th November and the coaching staff hopes Courtois will be available for the fixture against Leganes.
While it is indeed a massive blow for Carlo Ancelotti and Co. to be without one of their vital pillars, it does open the door for Andriy Lunin who recently renewed his contract and has seldom put a foot wrong when called into duty.
The Ukrainian international has only made two appearances for the team so far this season, against Lille and Villarreal, both of which came when Courtois was injured.
Now, he is set to start in El Clasico and it remains to be seen how he can hold up against Barcelona’s in-form attack.