“Hand in that transfer brother” - Real Madrid fans believe Champions League final ‘dream’ is over for 25-year-old as he misses spot in line-up v Betis
Real Madrid fans believe Andriy Lunin should forget about his dream of starting in the UEFA Champions League final after Thibaut Courtois replaced him against Real Betis. There has been an ongoing dilemma about who Carlo Ancelotti would pick to start the final game against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley on June 1.
Courtois has been injured for the vast majority of the campaign, as a cruciate ligament tear kept him out from August till April. Madrid quickly signed Kepa Arrizabalaga on loan from Chelsea as an alternative for the injured Belgian. However, the loanee failed to meet expectations at the Bernabeu, while also getting injured.
Enter Andriy Lunin. The Ukranian goalkeeper immediately became the shining light of the Real Madrid defense in the absence of other world-class goalkeepers at the club. He played 21 La Liga games, conceding only 15 goals and keeping 10 clean sheets. He also kept two clean sheets in eight Champions League games, helping Real Madrid get to the final of the competition.
However, Ancelotti opted to play Courtois in goal for their La Liga game against Real Betis on Saturday, May 25. Hence, fans do not see Lunin playing in the Champions League final. They took to social media sit X to react:
"Lunin hand in that transfer brother, its over😭," a fan cried.
"Dream over for Lunin," one fan said.
"Lunin #nation 💔💔💔" a fan reacted.
"Chale lunin😞" another fan was sad.
"Vamos equipo 💪 The line-up for UCL final 🔥, worry about Lunin though," said a fan.
"Means Courtois will play the final, not Lunin 😕", another fan warned.
"If you do not know this is the Champions League final lineup. Courtois will be starting. Sorry Lunin." a fan added.
Others reacted:
Carlo Ancelotti has spoken about his Real Madrid goalkeepers, as Champions League final looms
Carlo Ancelotti has a worthy headache of deciding which Real Madrid goalkeeper will play in the UEFA Champions League final. This is a position he has usually entrusted to Thibaut Cortouis, until his season-ending injury at the start of the campaign, that is.
Now, there are no certainty that the Belgian goalkeeper will play against Borussia Dortmund. Ancelotti might as well go with Lunin, as the Ukranian goalkeeper has shown his quality in Courtois' absence. Ahead of their 3-0 win over Cadiz on May 3, he talked about the goalkeepers without revealing who would play in the final game. He said (via Managing Madrid):
“What does this mean? (Laughs). You want to ask if Courtois can reach a hypothetical final, right? We only think about the final we have on Wednesday. We don’t think about what could happen in a month. We’ll see. Hopefully, we can think about it, it will mean that we will reach the final in London."
Currently, it looks as though Ancelotti may yet entrust Courtois with Real Madrid's ultimate game of the season. However, it could all depend on how he performs against Real Betis.