Thibaut Courtois called for English fans to show him more respect as he starred in Real Madrid’s Champions League final win over Liverpool.
The Belgian goalkeeper made nine saves in the 1-0 victory, the most on record in the final of the competition. Six of those were to deny Mohamed Salah as Courtois kept the Reds at bay in a man-of-the-match display.
The 30-year-old has been at Real for four years, having joined the club from Chelsea, and he was certainly keen to send a message to those watching on back in England after his superb performance.
“Yesterday, in the press conference, I said that when Madrid play finals then they win and I’m on the good side of history,” Courtois told BT Sport.
“I saw a lot of tweets coming my way that I would have humbled today, but it was the other way around.
“Today I needed to win a final for my career, for all the hard work, to put respect on my name. I don’t get enough respect, especially in England.
“I saw a lot of criticism, even after a great season, saying that I was not good enough, or whatever. I’m really happy and proud of the performance of the team, we stuck to it and whne I needed to be there I was.
“We beat the best clubs in the world. We saw off City and Liverpool, who were unbelievable. We won today and I was the difference as we had one shot and scored.”
