Thibaut Courtois comments on saving Lionel Messi's penalty

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has revealed that he studied Lionel Messi's penalties before their UEFA Champions League clash on Tuesday night, during which he saved a spot-kick from the Argentine.

Los Blancos will enter the return fixture of their round of 16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain one goal behind after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Mauricio Pochettino's charges in the first leg.

Courtois is a big reason the score did not increase after saving Messi's penalty in the second half, with the Belgian stating afterwards that he knew the Argentine had missed a few going to the left before.

"I'd studied Messi's penalties a lot and I tried to play with him when I was on the line. You've also got to have that little bit of luck, too.

"Obviously he shoots a lot of penalties, so it's hard to guess right.

"He missed a few on this side, so I think it was obvious he was going to the left.

"Maybe to the middle, he scored one against Leipzig.

10. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) – £348 000 a week before tax

9. David de Gea (Manchester United) – £372 000 a week before tax

8. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) – £382 000 a week before tax

7. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) – £382 000 a week before tax

6. Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain) – £408 000 a week before tax

5. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) – £497 000 a week before tax

4. Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid) – £571 000 a week before tax

3. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid) – £594 000 a week before tax

2. Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain) – £602 000 a week before tax

1. Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain) – £940 000 a week before tax

Related tags