Courtois urges Federico Valverde to keep shooting after he secured a win for Real Madrid over Athletic Bilbao
Courtois has urged Federico Valverde to shoot more often after the midfielder’s sensational late winner against Athletic Bilbao.
Valverde arrowed in a sublime strike in the third minute of stoppage time on Sunday, sealing a 1-0 victory that kept Real Madrid’s LaLiga title hopes alive.
Jude Bellingham missed several gilt-edged chances and Vinicius Junior saw a goal disallowed before Valverde, who has played out of position at right-back for much of the campaign, came up with a moment of magic.
It was Valverde’s sixth LaLiga goal of the season, and came from an opportunity worth just 0.02 expected goals.
But Courtois believes Valverde has the shooting prowess to take things on more often.
“Fede has a very unusual shot, a very good one,” Courtois said.
“[On Saturday] in training he kicked a ball that looked like it was going wide and suddenly it took a spin and you think… How did you kick that? It’s very sharp, fast and powerful.
“In training, he easily does one or two like that a week. We’ve been telling him for years: ‘shoot, shoot’.”
Valverde’s goal was Madrid’s fourth-latest winner in LaLiga in the 21st century.
It not only moved Madrid back to within four points of leaders Barcelona, who Los Blancos face in the Copa del Rey final on Saturday, but also eased some of the pressure on Carlo Ancelotti.
“Valverde was the key because he scored the goal,” Ancelotti told reporters.
“The team did well. We were a bit slower in the first half, but in the second half we did very well in every aspect. We wanted to win, to bounce back after being knocked out of the Champions League.
“It was a good match. We were aggressive and didn’t concede. We were more solid and played better as a team.”
With Kylian Mbappe suspended, Jude Bellingham took up a false nine role, and though the England international could not make the most of his chances,
Bellingham had five attempts, worth a combined 0.8 xG, but either missed the target or found Athletic goalkeeper Simon in fine form.
“We controlled the first half, we didn’t feel any pressure from Athletic, but we didn’t create any chances,” Ancelotti said.
“[Bellingham as false nine] gave us a big advantage last year. We didn’t use it in the first half, but we did in the second.
“We attacked many times from the outside and he was there to finish it off. He deserved to score.”
Ancelotti also praised winger Vinicius Junior, who was Madrid’s standout player throughout.
“Vinicius has a fantastic attitude and was exhausted in the second half. He was decisive, as always,” the Italian added.
“These haven’t been happy days for him, but I really liked his reaction. He’s going to be very important in the coming games, because of what he is on the pitch and because of his attitude.”
Bilbao, meanwhile, are still five points clear of fifth-place Villarreal in a race for fourth place.
Without star attacker Nico Williams, Ernesto Valverde’s team mustered just three shots and 0.19 xG, though Alex Berenguer felt their performance merited a point.
“I think we played a good game,” he told LaLiga TV.
“We held out almost until the end, but this is Real Madrid, this is the Bernabeu, and in the end they got the goal in the last seconds.
“They’re so good, they kept putting the ball into our area and creating chances. In the end, you just end up camped in your own penalty area and one of them will end up going past you.”
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