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Keylor Navas blunder should surely convince Real Madrid to move for Thibaut Courtois
Juventus came desperately close to pulling off a miraculous Champions League comeback against Real Madrid last night, only for a controversial late Cristiano Ronaldo penalty to deny the Old Lady a famous fightback.
A brace from Mario Mandzukic had given Juve hope before Blaise Matuidi bundled home a third to level the tie at 3-3.
But it was the manner of that goal which should have Chelsea fans concerned.
Douglas Costa’s inswinging cross should have been catching practice for Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas. Instead, he spilt the ball, the French midfielder then toeing home the Bianconeri’s third.
Such a mistake very nearly proved extremely costly for Real Madrid and surely now Los Merengues will decide to bring in a new goalkeeper in the summer – with Chelsea stopper Thibaut Courtois likely to be top of the pile.
The Costa Rican ‘keeper is an excellent shot-stopper but has been erratic in goal at times this season and Real crave a more consistent custodian.
David De Gea has now settled to life at Manchester United, but there have been rumblings regarding Courtois’ future at Chelsea for some time now.
In February a move back to Madrid, where Courtois was first-choice at rivals Atletico for three seasons, looked likely. However, in March, Real were doubting whether spending £50 million-plus on the Belgian was the right move and could target cheaper options.
But after seeing how close the calamity of Navas last night came to dumping them out of the competition Real will surely realise they need one of the world’s best in goal if they are to get back to their best in La Liga and maintain their place as Europe’s best.
With Chelsea looking unlikely to qualify for the Champions League next season and Courtois increasingly looking out of sorts at Stamford Bridge, it would be no surprise now to see Real reconsider their stance on the towering Belgian.