“We complicate meaningless games” – Thibaut Courtois reveals criticism of Real Madrid teammates | OneFootball

Real Madrid are aiming to end the league phase on a high, and a win against Brest on Wednesday could see them progress in the Champions League to the round of 16, skipping the play-offs in the process.

They will need to rely on other results going their way, but as Thibaut Courtois is aware, they must take care of things on their end first (via Diario AS).

“We arrive very well, playing well and scoring a lot of goals, in addition to defending better. It will be a tough match, against a very physical opponent, who have a very tall striker and players with quality. It’s time to be competitive and play a great game.

“The important thing is to win… and we’ll see. Let’s not speculate anything. There are so many games that, during the 90 minutes, a lot can happen. The point is that it is not tomorrow where we should win, but in other games. But let’s win tomorrow and we’ll see if there are Top 8 options.”

Thibaut Courtois has recognised that he and his Real Madrid teammates have not been at their best for most of the season (Photo by Antonio Villalba/Real Madrid via Getty Images)

It has been a strange season for Real Madrid, who are top of La Liga and in contention in the Champions League and Copa del Rey despite having not looked close to their best for the vast majority of the campaign. Courtois spoke on this, and he believes that it is all their own doing.

“I see the team aware, aware of the importance of starting well. Against Las Palmas they scored early… We have to take care of the start of matches, because we complicate meaningless games. But this is something for the eleven players, not just the defenders. The forwards also have to press well, for example. To go far you have to improve in defence, because in attack we are doing well.”

Courtois also spoke glowingly on Kylian Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick against Real Valladolid last weekend to continue his sensational recent form.

“He’s one of the best in the world… and we are lucky to have several of the best in the world: Kylian, Vini and even Rodrygo. It is better to have them in our team rather than facing them.”