Courtois has finally arrived at Real Madrid with keeper in the form of his life

It wasn't so long ago that there were serious doubts about whether Thibaut Courtois was the best goalkeeper at Real Madrid. On Saturday Zinedine Zidane was calling him: 'the best keeper in the world'.

The former Chelsea keeper who lost his place briefly to Alphonse Areola earlier in the season is now on course to break club records and receiving praise from former keepers whose numbers he is surpassing.

Madrid have only conceded 12 goals in the first half of the season. That's their best record since the 1987-88 season when Paco Buyo was in goal.

'The second season is the one when you really have to cement your place,' says Buyo.

And putting Courtois in the same league as Jan Oblak and Marc-Andre ter Stegen he added: 'If he continues at this level then he definitely one of the best three keepers in the world.'

Of those 12 goals conceded by Madrid, Courtois has only let-in nine and he has kept 11 clean sheets in his total of 21 games played in all competitions.

He could become the first Real Madrid goalkeeper to win LaLiga's Zamora prize for the keeper who has conceded the fewest goals. A Madrid keeper has not won the prize since Casillas 12 years ago.

In part the change in his fortunes is not directly related to Courtois.

Zinedine Zidane has tightened his team up by switching to a 4-4-2 with Ferland Mendy now at left back, defending more effectively than Marcelo and always protected by a midfielder in front of him.

Real Madrid are harder to break down. They have gone away to Getafe, Valencia, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao in the past month and only conceded one goal.

But Courtois must still take enormous credit because the big difference between now and earlier in the season is that when teams do get past the Madrid defence they can't beat him.

He has saved 27 of the last 30 shots on target faced. That compares positively with his record earlier in the season and has turned the Bernabeu whistles into applause.

He was jeered by his own supporters in October in a game against Club Brugge. They blamed him for two first-half goals and he was taken off at half-time amid reports of stomach problems and having been sick in the dressing room.

He missed training for two days and was then taken out of the following Saturday's game against Granada replaced by Zidane's compatriot Areola. It seemed then that he might even lose his place for good.

Critics online took plenty of joy in Courtois' apparent demise.

The club did its best to stick up for him. What appeared to be a rushed PR patch-up interview appeared in Marca in which he admitted: 'If you want to be Real Madrid goalkeeper you have to accept the pressure.'

The quote was part of a three-page special in which Marca also reported: 'He has absolutely no problem with anxiety', it went on to say that he had lost three kilos in a matter of hours because of the stomach problem and reminded readers Courtois is on the verge of breaking a record of not conceding a goal for Belgium.

The statistics were against him at the time however. Diario AS reminded readers that Courtois conceded 152 goals at Chelsea giving him a ratio of 0.99 goals conceded a game.

At Atletico it was 125 goals in 154 games giving him a ratio of 0.81 goals a game.

And at Genk it was 49 goals in 45 games giving him a ratio of 1.09 goals a game.

At Real Madrid he had already let in 59 goals in 43 games with a ratio of 1.37 goals a game.

Belgium goalkeeping coach Erwin Lemmens came out to defend him but when he said Courtois might be suffering from '[David] De Gea syndrome' it seemed to do more harm than good.

'Courtois is a special lad and it is very strange that he is always at his best for us and here [in Madrid] he may have De Gea syndrome,' he said.

Lemmens' 'De Gea syndrome' comment suggested a very talented keeper suddenly making mistakes, although the big difference was that during his darkest days De Gea's form tended to stay solid for his club long after he began making errors at international level, in the end losing his place to Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Courtois' problems were domestic ones. He was constantly being compared to Keylor Navas, who had won three Champions Leagues and was loved by all supporters and team-mates.

Navas' record at Madrid was 159 goals in 162 games conceded (0.98 goals a game) - that was better than even Iker Casillas with 750 in 725 games (1.03 goals a game).

But now both Iker and Keylor have been forgotten. 'Madrid has a goalkeeper once more' declared the Spanish media at the weekend after his first half performance against Getafe kept the team in the game and saw them build a platform for a 3-0 win.

'We never lost faith in him' said Dani Carvajal after the game. Courtois has repaid the way the dressing room stuck with him even when the supporters had turned. A year-and-a-half after signing Courtois looks to have finally arrived at Madrid.