PSG 3-0 Real Madrid: 4 Talking Points | UEFA Champions League 2019/2020
With Group A of the Champions League group stage having opened with a goalless stalemate between Galatasaray and Club Brugge in Belgium, all eyes rightly turned to the highly anticipated fixture between PSG and Real Madrid in France.
Both sides came into the clash with narrow home victories over the weekend, with the French champions needing a stunning last-gasp strike by Neymar to dispatch Strasbourg in Ligue 1, while Real Madrid almost let a three-goal lead slip but ultimately held on for a 3-2 win over Levante in LaLiga.
The game was expected to be an evenly matched contest between two of Europe's heavyweights, but in unexpected scenes, Real Madrid were absolutely blown away and fell to a 3-0 defeat in the French capital.
The loss sees Los Blancos occupy the bottom spot on the standings in Group A, and here we shall be highlighting four talking points from the fixture.
#4 Yet more misery for Thibaut Courtois in goal
Thibaut Courtois caused a lot of bad blood between him and Chelsea fans when he acrimoniously forced through a transfer to Real Madrid for the sum of £35m last summer.
The Belgian was fresh off winning the Golden Glove at the World Cup and arrived with a reputation of being one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
However, his reputation has taken a massive hit since arriving the Santiago Bernabeu, as a number of substandard performances and errors have seen his abilities questioned.
Having rotated for the starting spot with Keylor Navas last season, the Costa Rican's departure to PSG paved the way for Courtois to become undoubted first choice, but the show of faith in discarding a man who played a major role in the success enjoyed by Zidane during his first managerial tenure has not had an impact on Courtois' performance between the sticks.
Over the weekend, the 27-year-old conceded two goals from just three shots on target he faced against Levante, meaning that he has conceded a goal in his last 12 LaLiga games consecutively, which marks the worst run without a clean sheet in his goalkeeping career.
Three goals were conceded against PSG, bringing the total he has shipped in this season to nine from just five matches.
The Belgian international was hardly helped by the displays of the defenders in front of him, as Eder Militao, in particular, struggled to keep up pace with the hosts' attack, and was caught out of position on a number of occasions.
Thibaut Courtois came to Real Madrid seeking to take a step forward in his career, but a year on, it is unarguable that he has taken several steps backwards.
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