Thibaut Courtois, the scourge of Liverpool in last year’s Champions League final, continues to thwart the Reds, this time coming up with a firm stop to deny Cody Gakpo.
The Belgian kept out an early Darwin Nunez shot at the Bernabeu before his opposite number Alisson pulled off two magnificent saves at the other end.
The match remained scoreless going into the 36th minute, when James Milner’s curled diagonal ball into the Real Madrid penalty area was half-cleared by Nacho as the ball fell to the feet of Diogo Jota.
He found Gakpo in space to his right, the Dutchman taking one touch to set himself before unleashing a powerful drive that Courtois tipped behind for a corner.
It was one of Liverpool’s better moments in a first half which ended 0-0, with the Belgium netminder again proving a hard man to beat.
You can see Courtois’ save from Gakpo below from beinSPORT’s coverage (via @EV71B on Twitter):
#RMALIV #ChampionsLeague
📽️: @EVR1B pic.twitter.com/Jkep3Jizhg— تشامبيونز (@EV71B) March 15, 2023
FSG must back Klop if LFC can be a force to be reckoned with. It is an ignominy for a club to be short of midfield options as they are. Qualified or not FSG should open cheque book.