Thibaut Courtois Indirectly Criticizes Florentino Perez Over Striker Issue
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez received an indirect shot from Thibaut Courtois, who revealed what the squad needed after Los Blancos went out 5-1 on aggregate in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.
The Spanish side is playing without a proper No. 9, with Kylian Mbappe often filling that role, although his ideal position is on the left wing. As a result, not adding that natural striker last summer came back to haunt the club in the tie against Arsenal.
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After Wednesday night’s loss, Courtois told reporters that missing a true No. 9 like Joselu really hurt their chances to advance past the Gunners (h/t The Independent).
In the end, they're a team that defends well, is well organized, presses well, and it's difficult to find space. We put in a lot of crosses, but this year we don't have Joselu, a natural striker up front.Thibaut Courtois
Since Karim Benzema and Joselu left, Real Madrid still haven’t brought in a true No. 9. Instead, they went after Mbappe last summer with the idea of using him as a striker—even though that’s not really his natural position.
While Real Madrid lack a natural striker, Courtois mentioned that the squad needs to analyze what went wrong and put it behind them since their 2024-25 season isn't over, and there are still other trophies on the line.
We have to analyze carefully what we can do better. We have a lot of season ahead of us, we have the League on the line, the Cup in ten days, and then the Club World Cup. We thank the fans. Thinking about a comeback was great, and I hope we can bring them some joy this season.Thibaut Courtois
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Eduardo is an experienced freelance football writer covering Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and PSG On SI. He also covers PSG for PSG Talk and French football for Ligue 1's official English website. He's contributed to NBC Sports' regional sports networks, including NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, providing in-depth sports content for those markets.