Barcelona’s victory over Real Madrid doesn’t count – Thibaut Courtois

Photo: James Williamson – AMA/Getty Images

Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 1-0 in a pre-season friendly in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.

The Blaugrana put in a fine display against the Los Blancos, with Raphinha scoring the only goal of the game.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has now said that their defeat to Barcelona doesn’t count.

“Obviously, you can’t draw many conclusions,” he said. “Some players have been training for two weeks and others just one.

“The most important thing was to pick up the pace, start with good intensity which we haven’t always had in recent years. For our first game, it was good. The only negative is that we didn’t get a goal and they scored a great one. We hit the crossbar and theirs went into the top corner.”

He continued: “In pre-season the result doesn’t count. I remember when we lost 7-3 against Atletico Madrid [in 2019] and then beat them twice to win La Liga. The results now don’t say much.

“Obviously, we prefer to win here, in front of the United States fans, but it’s the first game and we had to pick up the pace. We don’t like the defeat but we don’t have to overreact to it either.”

Courtois also admitted that Real Madrid missed the presence of star striker Karim Benzema.

“We won La Liga and the Champions League with this team and we have faith, but if Karim is not there, we are missing a goal or creating less danger,” the goalkeeper admitted.

“It is the first game, so we don’t have to draw conclusions. In the Super Cup, we know everyone must be ready.”