Thibaut Courtois Confident Ahead Of League Cup Final
One of the best qualities a young player can have, especially a young goalkeeper, is confidence. The confidence to know that they truly belong on the pitch with the big boys and that they are at the same level or even better than their competition. Chelsea FC‘s young goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has that type of confidence in abundance. The Belgian shotstopper has the quiet, steely confidence about him that you usually only see in seasoned veterans.
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It often takes young players some time to adapt to the rigors of the Premier League but Courtois has been an exception. His time spent at Atletico Madrid exposed to some of the best footballers in the world and he was fortunate enough to play in two very tough competitions, the Europa League and Champions League. At times he was the best keeper in Spain and was even instrumental in knocking out his parent club from the Champions League last season with an inspired performance.
Atletico fell short of winning the Champions League but the youngster still won the Europa League and La Liga with Atleti. With those trophies and other awards such as the Zamora Award for best keeper in Spain came the confidence and maturity needed to take the Chelsea keeper job away from a legend like Petr Cech.
Courtois spoke about the chance to win his first trophy with Chelsea and said, “It’s nice if every season you finish having won a trophy. Hopefully that will continue for a while, starting with this match. This is the first final and everybody wants to win the first trophy that is up for grabs this season. Of course, I’m excited about the chance to play at Wembley. It’s always nice to play in that sort of stadium and more if it’s a final. Everybody is looking forward to Sunday’s final.”
He continued on about coming back to Chelsea because he wanted to play for the Blues but he would have gladly gone back out on loan if he was not getting the minutes he thought he deserved. Courtois also spoke about his feelings and confidence ahead of match day and said, “I’m never nervous [about the decision]. If you play, you have to do your best. You have to be prepared to play, even if you end up not starting. Something can happen really fast in the game and you have to be ready to come on and play. You have to be ready even if you are on the bench. You have to be ready always. On Sunday, it’s a final and anything can happen.”
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Jose Mourinho and Chelsea are lucky enough to have two of the best goalkeepers in the world at their disposal. It is a luxury that is rarely afforded to most managers and Mourinho has done brilliantly to keep both players match sharp and happy enough to contribute to the team. It is obvious that Thibaut Courtois is the present and future number 1 at Chelsea and winning his first trophy this weekend is an excellent place to start. We know his confidence will be no issue on Sunday and hopefully neither will his play.