Courtois: “We deserved more from the game, we created a lot of danger”
“Winning these matches at home takes you a long way,” said the goalkeeper.
Thibaut Courtois spoke after Real Madrid’s victory over Olympique Marseille at the Bernabéu: “Winning these matches at home takes you a long way. We learned that last year when we lost here to Milan and also lost to Lille. It's important to start well and in the end we deserved to get the win. We created a lot of openings and the goals came from two penalties. Our performance deserved more. We created a lot of danger to score goals from open play and not from penalties. In the end, the match got complicated.”
“The gaffer asked us to do the same after the break, but they pressed a bit less and closed down the lines. We were poor with the ball in the first 20 minutes of the second half and found the second half harder than the first. It's a good win to start with.”
Defensive work under Xabi Alonso
“When you don't defend with eleven, the whole team. Xabi Alonso is very keen for the wingers, Mbappé or the attacking midfielders to get back quickly behind the ball, and that makes a big difference. That's the difference between whether they think you're dangerous or not. We've done pretty well so far, and that's the approach. The manager also asks me to play further forward, and that's what's changed compared to last year.”