With the Belgium international expected to miss the game against Granada, the Frenchman has another chance to stake his claim to the number one spot.
Courtois faces a genuine battle to retain his spot between Zinedine Zidane’s sticks with Alphonse Areola staking his claim for a starting role with his excellent home form.
In total, the on-loan PSG keeper has now gone 315 minutes combined without shipping a goal at home with both the Parisians and Real Madrid this season. Courtois is a serious doubt for the game against Granada this weekend having failed to train on Wednesday and Thursday and Areola’s current form leaves the Belgian’s position as Zidane’s number one open to question.
Courtois was singled out for criticism after Real’s 2-2 draw with Club Brugge, both of the Belgian side’s goals coming in the first half before he was replaced at the break with an apparent stomach issue. Areola managed to endear himself to Real fans and his coach by preventing Dennis Bonaventure from claiming a hat-trick with a decisive stop that spared Madrid from going three down and the Frenchman is bearing down on Courtois’ place in the side after joining on loan for a season as part of the deal that saw Keylor Navas head to the Parc des Princes last summer after being frozen out by the arrival of Courtois from Chelsea.