After a difficult start to his Madrid career upon joining from Chelsea in 2018, Courtois has been one of Los Blancos’ most consistent performers over the past two seasons.
He has kept 11 clean sheets in LaLiga this term – a tally bettered only by Jan Oblak and Yassine Bounou – while only those two and Marc-Andre ter Stegen have a better save percentage than Courtois’ 72.3 per cent of goalkeepers who have played more than three games.
Courtois has been regularly praised by boss Zinedine Zidane for his game-saving heroics, and the 28-year-old believes a number of tweaks to his game have helped him to become a more “complete goalkeeper”.
“I think I’ve grown in possession, playing with my feet,” he said. “At Madrid, with Zidane, we need to play and pass under pressure. I have improved a lot in that.
“Of course, I’m also more experienced now. I read situations a bit better and I’ve gotten stronger mentally as well.
“It’s a combination of all those things. I’m becoming more complete as a goalkeeper, but that is something you need to keep working on.
“It’s an evolution, you are always evolving in football.”
