Thibaut Courtois: Real Madrid ‘had to’ beat Villarreal…

Thibaut Courtois rued Real Madrid’s 2-2 draw with Villarreal on Thursday. “We couldn’t afford to drop points, we had to win.”

“We’re disappointed, we didn’t have to draw,” the goalkeeper said after the game.

“We had chances to kill the game off, but we didn’t take them. We were then sloppy at the back as Santi [Cazorla] was alone at the back post…

“We had lots of possession and got into their box. We didn’t that often but still more than they did.

“They didn’t pose us that much of a threat and we had the game under control. We couldn’t afford to drop points here.

“I don’t think the Club World Cup affected us. We’ve been training very well and everyone was ready for the game. We started badly, I made a save in the third minute and they scored.

“We recovered quickly and scored two goals of our own, but we missed two one-on-ones. The game was in those misses.

“We had to win here, but hey. Now we have to be ready for Sunday, against Real Sociedad at home.”

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