Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid’s star goalkeeper, tore a ligament in his left knee on Thursday, only two days before the team’s first game of the season. The injury happened during training.
The club revealed that its star goalkeeper will undergo surgery, putting him out for a large part of the campaign.
Taking to his social media accounts, Courtois said, “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.” He added, Thank you all for the energy, love and encouragement, I assure you that they motivate me to recover as quickly as possible.”
Courtois, 31, has been a backbone of Madrid’s success since joining from Chelsea in 2018. His saves were an excellent counterpoint to Benzema’s goals. The Belgian international helped Real Madrid win the Champions League in 2022, the Spanish league titles in 2020 and 2022 and the Copa del Rey last season.
Courtois has helped Chelsea win 2 Premier League titles and 1 FA Cup. Prior to his time in London, he was a player for Atletico Madrid, who won the Spanish League and the Europa League.
Real Madrid kicks off the season on Saturday against Athletic Bilbao, with Ukrainian backup Andriy Lunin expected to take Courtois’ place.