MADRID, 17 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid’s Belgian goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, has been designated this Monday as the winner of the Lev Yashin Trophy, which the prestigious French sports magazine awards as part of the Ballon d’Or to the best goalkeeper of the 2021-2022 campaign.
The goalkeeper was the big favorite for this award after the performance he offered last season where he was key in the Madrid team’s double, especially in winning the fourteenth Champions League.
Bree’s man, who joins the Brazilian Alisson Becker (2019) and the Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma (2021) in this trophy, signed a total of 61 saves in the continent’s top competition, many of them decisive. The Liverpool goalkeeper and his compatriot Ederson, from Manchester City, completed the podium.
Among others, Courtois was key in Madrid’s journey in the Champions League with a penalty saved on Leo Messi in the first leg of the round of 16 against French PSG, with several vital saves in the second leg of the semifinals against English Manchester City, and, above all, in the final in Paris against Liverpool, with two sensational hands on Sadio Mané and Mohammed Salah.
His performance last season had also placed him among the candidates to win the Ballon d’Or, an award in which he finished seventh and which a goalkeeper has not won since it was achieved precisely by the one that gives its name to the trophy he won on Monday, the Russian Lev Yashin, in the year 1963.
“I want to thank my teammates and my club, I’m happy to be part of this wonderful team, which had an incredible season,” said Courtois, who also stressed the fact of winning the trophy against “great goalkeepers”.
