Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post.
Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down.
Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest.
Photo: AFP
Sabitzer turned his back to the goal and put both hands on his head as Brazilian referee Ramon Abatti walked by, raised both hands and blew the final whistle.
“In football, it’s like this. All the teams that are here, they compete until the end,” Courtois said after Real’s 3-2 victory on Saturday. “A game could become like this at any minute, and that’s what happened at the end.”
Voted the top goalkeeper in 2018, Courtois has won a pair of UEFA Champions League titles with Real Madrid, along with two English Premier League championships and four in La Liga.
“We are so lucky that we have Thibaut on goal because Thibaut is one of those ‘keepers that makes you win games, and today that save has been so decisive,” Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said.
Gonzalo Garcia and Fran Garcia scored in the first 20 minutes as Real Madrid built a 2-0 lead. Gonzalo Garcia is tying Benfica’s Angel Di Maria and Al Hilal’s Marcos Leonardo for the tournament lead with four goals.
“Not even in my best dreams did I think it would go this well,” said the 21-year-old Gonzalo Garcia, who played just five La Liga matches over the past two seasons.
Real Madrid’s lead still stood when five minutes of stoppage time were signaled.
Dortmund’s Maximilian Beier started the zaniness when he scored three minutes into stoppage time after Antonio Rudiger’s failed clearance.
Kylian Mbappe, who entered in the 67th minute, restored a two-goal lead one minute later with a spectacular bicycle kick, beating goalkeeper Gregor Kobel from 6 yards from Arda Guler’s long cross.
Mbappe then held up two fingers with his right hand and formed a zero with his left as a tribute to Diogo Jota, flashing the No. 20 of the Liverpool player who died in a car crash on Thursday.
That was not all.
Serhou Guirassy converted a penalty kick in the eighth minute of added time after he was fouled by Dean Huijsen, who received a red card and would miss the semi-final.
Dortmund pushed for an equalizer. Courtois then came up with a stop for the ages.
“It is a great big save. That’s the reason why he is the best goalkeeper in the world,” Dortmund coach Niko Kovac said.
Madrid advanced to a semi-final match against Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, a day after Chelsea meets the Brazilian club Fluminense.
“The nervousness, we need to learn to be more calm in the next game and finish the game in possession,” Courtois said.
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