Borussia Dortmund manager Niko Kovac has lauded Thibaut Courtois’s stunning save that denied his side extra time, calling the Real Madrid goalkeeper “one of the best in the world.”
Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovac singled out Thibaut Courtois for praise on Saturday, highlighting the goalkeeper’s crucial save in the dying moments, which ensured Real Madrid held onto their 3-2 lead and progressed to the Club World Cup semi-finals.
“First and foremost, I want to congratulate Real Madrid on advancing. It was a well-deserved victory (…). The ending was absolutely frantic. Fine margins can decide these games, and very few goalkeepers (referring to Courtois) can protect the ball like that,” he stated in a press conference.
“He’s one of the best goalkeepers globally. The way he blocked that shot… He was commanding, right in the thick of it. It’s a deserved win for Madrid. Had we scored that goal, it would have been slightly unfair, so to speak,” he added.
Leading 2-0 by the 20th minute thanks to goals from Gonzalo Garcia and Fran Garcia, Madrid controlled the match comfortably until injury time, when the game descended into a frenzied finale.
Maximilian Beier pulled one back in the 92nd minute, Kylian Mbappe then scored a stunning goal – his first of the tournament – to make it 3-1 in the 94th minute, before Serhou Guirassy converted a penalty in the 98th minute after Dean Huijsen was sent off, ruling him out of the semi-finals.
Courtois, once again the hero for Los Blancos, had to produce a stunning save in the final play against Marcel Sabitzer to prevent extra time. Madrid will now face Paris Saint-Germain for a place in the final.
