Thibaut Courtois knew he was going to be booed by Chelsea fans and nobody will relish this Real Madrid win more than him
THIBAUT COURTOIS knew he was going to get it in the neck from the Chelsea fans and he certainly wasn’t disappointed.
The Real Madrid keeper has been hated at Stamford Bridge ever since he forced his way out of the club for a move to the Bernabeu four years ago.
And the vitriol poured down from the Matthew Harding Stand the second he took his place in goal for kick-off.
“Thibaut, Thibaut, you’re a…..” they bellowed before demanding “Where’s your European Cup?” from the man who claimed he was moving to Madrid to win the Champions League and actually lost out to Chelsea last season.
But that semi-final had been played behind closed doors due to the pandemic and this time the volume had been turned all the way up to 11.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel had urged Blues fans to make life as uncomfortable as possible for Carlo Ancelotti’s team and said: ”We absolutely need the crowd to be better.”
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And while the manic German had plenty of reasons to be disappointed with his players’ efforts, he could have no complaints about the noise levels threatening to lift the roof off.
It was only a couple of weeks ago that Chelsea were given the green light to even sell tickets for this game after Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the Government.
That meant prospective new owner Todd Boehly was able to get a close up look at the team he is trying to buy as he strolled into the Bridge virtually unnoticed.
The American billionaire is currently over for talks with the Chelsea board…and has now seen as many home games as Abramovich this season.
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And even though the result did not go the way he wanted, he would nevertheless have been bowled over by the atmosphere and passion of the fans.
“Champions of Europe, we know what we are,” they sang, although they might not be able to chant that for much longer.
For on a filthy night in west London it was the Madridistas who were left singing in the rain as their team took a huge stride towards avenging last season’s defeat.
And no-one relished this impressive victory more than Courtois, who probably should have done better with Kai Havertz’s goal but more than made amends with a fabulous flying save to deny Cesar Azpilicueta.
It means Real head into next week’s return leg with a two-goal advantage after Blues keeper Edouard Mendy’s horrendous error presented Karim Benzema with another Champions League hat-trick.
And it is going to need a lot more than songs to save Chelsea’s bacon in the Bernabeu. Maybe it’s time to start praying.
