Thibaut Courtois tears his knee ligament, will require surgery

Real Madrid have been handed a blow before the beginning of the season as goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is set to miss several months of action after tearing his ligament.

Real Madrid have suffered a major upset following a disastrous injury to goalkeeper Thibuat Courtois. Just a couple of days before the team’s first league match of the season, the Belgian goalkeeper suffered a tear in the ligament of his knee and is set to require surgery.

The club has confirmed the injury on social media and has also mentioned the fact that Courtois will opt for surgery. This means that he will be out of action for several months and is set to miss the majority of the season.

“You never expect to go through something like this, but now it’s time to accept it and do everything possible to overcome it and come back even stronger,” Courtois said on his social media accounts.

“Thank you all for the energy, love and encouragement, I assure you that they motivate me to recover as quickly as possible.” The injury, which occurred during training, comes after an offseason that featured the exit of veteran striker Karim Benzema.

The current optimistic predictions from the medical camp suggest that Courtois will not be back in action before April while those on the pessimistic end report that he might miss the entire season.

Newly signed midfielder from Fenerbahce - Arda Guler - will also miss a large chunk of action and will be unavailable for several weeks. The young Turkish player is suffering from a knee issue which might also require surgery.

Following his arrival from Chelsea to Real Madrid in 2018, Courtois has been a fundamental part of the Los Blancos side. He has been immensely influential in between the sticks and it was the Belgian goalkeeper’s decisiveness in the Champions League final against Liverpool which allowed Real Madrid to lift the Champions League title a couple of seasons ago.

He has also been very consistent in La Liga and regularly produces match-winning saves. The Belgium international helped Madrid win the Champions League in 2022, Spanish league titles in 2020 and 2022, and last season’s Copa del Rey.

Courtois has also spent significant time with Chelsea and he has helped the Blues to win two Premier League titles and an FA Cup. Before moving to London to play for Chelsea, he used to represent Real Madrid’s city rivals Atletico Madrid and has even won La Liga and a Europa League title with them.

Real Madrid opens the season on Saturday at Athletic Bilbao, when rarely used backup Andriy Lunin, a Ukrainian player, looks set to take Courtois’ place.

With the transfer market still open, Los Blancos are still looking for reinforcements. Possible replacements include Sevilla’s Yassine Bounou, Chelsea’s Kepa Arrizabalaga, and David De Gea who recently parted ways with Manchester United.