Laurent Blanc knows greatness when he sees it, having played behind Zinedine Zidane in the 1998 World Cup, so, when the PSG manager declares that Chelsea have “one of the greats” in Thibaut Courtois, you listen.
And the chorus of agreement from this side of the Channel will not just feature Chelsea fans.
Much has rightly been made of the brilliance of David de Gea, whose saves have kept Manchester United at the forefront of Champions League contention — but would Jose Mourinho dream of swapping his young Belgian for the young Spaniard? Not for a second.
The knowledge that Courtois could be recalled from Atletico Madrid this summer would have convinced the Chelsea manager — every bit as much as the signing of Diego Costa — that the Premier League title was his to lose. And so it has proved. The retention of Petr Cech provided insurance. But Courtois came to be No1.
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His save from Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s header in Paris last night was, for me, a candidate for the season’s best. To place it above Shay Given’s fingertipper from Matty James at the weekend would be harsh on the Aston Villa veteran. But Ibrahimovic deserved a goal. As did Blaise Matuidi, for his unplayable cross. Yet, having done everything right, they were denied.
Courtois, though not yet 23, seems almost a definition of class. He always did. When winning the Belgian title with Genk, he was just 18. In his first season in Madrid, he won the Europa League. In his second, he was man of the match in a Copa Del Rey triumph over Real. In his third, Atletico were champions.
But trophies never tell the full story and what made the Paris performance especially impressive was the recent memory of Courtois’s error against Manchester City. All keepers make mistakes and, when Joe Hart endured a sequence last season, his form suffered. Would Courtois similarly take time to recover? Last night was the answer.
