Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois could not help but twist the knife after Los Blancos secured their 35th LaLiga title on Saturday.
Following their 4-0 win over Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabeu, giving them an unassailable lead with four games to spare, Courtois had a response to a claim from Dani Alves.
With Barcelona’s recent win over Real Sociedad, and March’s 4-0 victory over the newly-crowned champions in mind, Alves had joked that Madrid were fortunate the Blaugrana let them open up such a huge margin.
After clinching the league, Courtois engaged in some tit-for-tat while praising Madrid’s maturity and togetherness in seeing the title race through.
“After the Clasico was key,” he said. “Some people celebrated as if they had won the title, that they were back.
“But we kept calm to beat Celta in a difficult game, and Getafe, which is always difficult for us.
“This is the work of the whole team,” Courtois said. “We all attack and defend.”
Y NADA MÁS.#CAMPEON35 pic.twitter.com/mJopahc49L
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) April 30, 2022
With Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Manchester City looming, it will have been a relief to head coach Carlo Ancelotti that Saturday’s contest became a relatively routine victory, and the Los Blancos boss was able to stagger the minutes of Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Vinicius Jr.
Courtois noted despite the result that Espanyol did not make it easy on his side.
“We had to finish it off today,” Courtois said. “Everything was ready, also for our friends, family, fans.
“We knew we couldn’t slip. Espanyol gave us a very tough game at the beginning, but we were calm and after the first goal, everything was easier.”
