Thibaut Courtois reveals how he knew which direction Lionel Messi was shooting

Thibaut Courtois has explained how he identified which direction Lionel Messi would shoot his penalty after the Real Madrid stopper denied the Paris Saint-Germain star during their Champions League clash.

The French giants earned an important first leg victory over their Spanish counterparts in the last-16 clash on Tuesday, with Kylian Mbappe scoring a sensational goal to give Mauricio Pochettino’s side the edge.

PSG ought to have been ahead prior to Mbappe’s strike, with Messi given the chance to score from the spot after the Frenchman was hauled down inside the box by Dani Carvajal. 

However, the Argentinian was unable to keep his cool, with Madrid goalkeeper Courtois getting a strong hand to Messi’s strike to keep his side in the contest at the Parc des Princes. 

And the former Chelsea goalkeeper has explained that he had a strong inkling that Messi would shoot to his left, having studied the PSG star meticulously before their last-16 clash. 

‘Obviously he shoots a lot of penalties in a season so it’s hard to guess right,’ Courtois told BT Sport. ‘But he missed a few ones on this side [the right] so I think it was obvious he was going to the left. 

The Belgian goalkeeper denied the Argentine from 12 yards during their last-16 clash

Courtois explained that Messi’s penalty history convinced him that he would go to his left

‘Maybe in the middle he scored one against Leipzig, so I just said “okay we will go left” and I had a good save.’

Ultimately, Courtois’ heroics were in vain, as Mbappe came to the rescue with a wonderstrike against his potential suitors. The Belgian reflected that the late goal was ‘a bit annoying’ but there is plenty left to play for in the second leg.   

‘[It was] Just a bit annoying,’ he said. ‘We lost the ball in midfield, he gets away easily from two players, then obviously you have to close the angle.

Madrid have a lot of work to do to overturn the tie after Kylian Mbappe scored the winner

‘I went down as far as I could to block the far side because he likes to shoot on the left side but the ball went just in the right space under my body. 

‘It’s a bit hard to take after such a game but it still means we have to win at home, even with a draw we had to win at home anyway. 

‘It was a hard game for us offensively, we weren’t calm on the ball and we didn’t have the right passing to cope with their pressure. On the counter attack, if you are not 100 per cent good in the Champions League it is hard to create chances. 

‘At home it will have to be better and I am sure we will do better. We believe and I am sure we can win.’