Thibaut Courtois to start Champions League final as Carlo Ancelotti lifts lid on GK issue

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti ended the suspense on the club’s goalkeeper issue ahead of the Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund. Ancelotti, participating in his sixth final in Europe’s biggest club competition will opt for experienced Thibaut Courtois who will start in place of the impressive Andriy Lunin who has previously started in all knockout stage games. Real will play Dortmund in London’s Wembley Stadium on Saturday (June 1) as they target their 15th title at the continental level.

Courtois gets the nod ahead of Lunin

"Lunin has had flu, he hasn't been able to train," Ancelotti said in his pre-final news conference on Friday. "He'll travel tomorrow. He'll be on the bench, so Courtois will play."

An Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) had limited Courtois’ participation in the Champions League this season, having spent the majority of the season on the sidelines. However, he will be available for two reasons in the final – his experience playing in big matches while Lunin has only recovered from the flu which kept him away from training with the rest of the squad in the midweek.

Interestingly, this will be Courtois’ first appearance in this season’s Champions League and will once again go for an extended break after missing out on the Belgium squad for the Euro 2024. Ancelotti will hope his first-choice goalkeeper is in great form when he takes guard in his sixth Champions League final. He has an impeccable record in the European Cup finals having lost only once on previous five occasions when Liverpool came from 3-0 to beat his AC Milan side in 2005 in Istanbul.

"A final is a final, it's the most important game and the most dangerous," Ancelotti said. "You have to enjoy being here, and then you start to worry that it could go badly.

"You're close to the most important thing in football, winning the Champions League, and you're scared that it could get away ... The more fear you have, the happier you are when you win it."

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Emotions running high ahead of the final

The Champions League final will be a special occasion for several players including Toni Kroos, Nacho Fernandez and Marco Reus. While Fernandez and Reus bid farewell to their respective clubs, this will be Kroos’ final club game before he hangs his boots and departs for Germany where again he will retire from all forms of the game.

Interestingly, speculations are also rife that Luka Modric could announce his retirement from the game at club level and thus vacate his No.10 jersey for new Galactico Kylian Mbappe. He alongside, Kroos, Fernandes and Dani Carvajal could win their sixth Champions League title, joining club legend Paco Gento as the most successful player in the history of the competition.