UCL: Courtois explains how Real Madrid stopped City's danger man, Haaland in 1-1 draw

Image: Sports Illustrated

Yesterday, it was a clash between Champions Real Madrid and Manchester City as the contend to progress from the Champions League semi-final. The match happened at the Bernabeu and it's the first leg of the encounter which saw Manchester City drawing level with Madrid ending the evening with a 1-1 draw.

However, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has spoken about the tactical plan Madrid employed to stop Erling Haaland in the clash.

The game ended 1-1 at the Bernabeu, with Kevin De Bruyne cancelling out Vinicius Jr’s opener.

Haaland had only 21 touches during the game, the fewest on the pitch.

His team-mate, goalkeeper Ederson (19) even made more passes than him (13).

Courtois told BT Sport: “If you want to defend against Haaland, you don’t give him the space to run.

“We tried to avoid that. We played well. As a consequence they shot more from distance. It pushed us deeper.

“City are a team who play with possession. With Haaland they play more direct. Sometimes in the Premier League Ederson shoots [kicks] really deep. We dropped down to not give them space.”

See the video highlight below:

Source: dailypost.ng

#Courtois
#Real Madrid
#Manchester City
#Haaland
#UCL