‘Without Courtois it’d be a different story’ - Frank Leboeuf after Real Madrid's UCL win | ESPN FC

Name: ‘Without Courtois it’d be a different story’ - Frank Leboeuf after Real Madrid's UCL win | ESPN FC
Uploaded: 2026-10-21T22:10:53+00:00
Duration: 7 min 36 s
Description: The panel reviews Real Madrid's 4-1 Champions League win over RB Leipzig and looks ahead to the Clasico against Barcelona. They argue Madrid are dangerous in open games but defensively and…

ESPN FC

ESPN FC on Real Madrid's 4-1 win over Leipzig: Courtois key and midfield concerns before El Clasico

The panel reviews Real Madrid's 4-1 Champions League win over RB Leipzig and looks ahead to the Clasico against Barcelona. They argue Madrid are dangerous in open games but defensively and structurally vulnerable, heavily reliant on Courtois, while also discussing Leipzig's missed chances, Guler's creativity and the space Barcelona can leave.

Real Madrid are at their most dangerous when games become chaotic and open, so they will want an open game against Barcelona rather than a compact tactical battle — Leipzig had chances and Courtois had to make saves, while Madrid's midfield did not defend well; but their attacking players, including Mbappe, Vini, Bellingham and Guler, are stronger than the opposition and can decide open games.
The 4-1 win did not mean Real Madrid produced a convincing performance; their defense lacks solidity and their midfield lacks structure, with attacking moments and Courtois's saves covering up problems — Leipzig created chances in transition and Madrid relied on Courtois; when players like Mbappe, Bellingham, Guler and Vini ran at the opposition, goals made the issues seem resolved.
Guler is a highly creative player who reads the game ahead, finds the right positions and knows where to put the ball — He anticipates what is coming, positions himself well and makes good decisions with the ball.
Leipzig missed a big opportunity to score first at the Bernabeu and really trouble Real Madrid — They had two or three excellent chances to take the lead; scoring first would have let them drop back and counter, and they could have at least taken a draw.
Real Madrid must feel very fortunate to have Courtois because without him it would have been a different story; he is by far the best goalkeeper in the world — Madrid have relied on him repeatedly to make saves, and his goalkeeping changed the course of the game.
This expensive Real Madrid signing has had a decent rather than outstanding start: he has not dominated games and has made mistakes, but he is better on the left — He scored today, can beat people, is growing in confidence and should get more chances with Vini out; he still needs consistent end product.
Barcelona's commitment of numbers forward leaves their full-backs exposed and gives Real Madrid a natural outlet, but Madrid must first control the ball, keep midfield structure and press effectively — Today Leipzig's Gruda was allowed to dominate midfield with nobody closing him down; against Barcelona players like Lamine or Pedri, that organizational weakness would be punished.

Frank Leboeuf, Stewart Robson, Jurgen Klinsmann and Ale Moreno join Kay Murray on ESPN FC to react to Real Madrid's 4-1 Champions League win over RB Leipzig. ✔️ Subscribe to ESPN Unlimited: https://plus.espn.com/ ESPN ESPNFC

Transcript

Positive performance for Real Madrid ahead of the big game this weekend. 4-1 it would finish against Leipzig, but of course next up it's the camp. Now it's Barcelona. It's Eláico in La Liga. How did they look tonight for you Stuart heading into that game? >> Well, when the games look chaotic and when it becomes open, that's when Real Madrid are at their most dangerous because they didn't defend well again. As we've seen many times this season, RB Lipik had their chances. Corttois made a couple of good saves. They were easy to play against Real Madrid, but when they win the ball, they've got better players in the attacking areas than the opposition. And obviously, Mbappé's got the pace to go past people. Vinnie Junior had one or two good moments. Bellingham racing forward. Ardu Guler was outstanding playing on the right hand side alongside Valvera who played at right back yet again and their combination was very good. They had quite a good midfield in terms of on the ball, but their midfield didn't defend particularly well. So, it was a it was a game where there was lots of chances for both sides, but the better quality is in the top third of the field for Real Madrid. And I would say against Barcelona, they want the game to be quite open. They don't want it to be too compact. They don't want it to be too much of a tactical battle. They want it to be open because that's when they're at their most dangerous. And that's what happened tonight. >> Real Madrid. I up until the Mbappe goal that was followed by Lipy goal and then Mande. But up until that moment, I had mentioned to you as we were watching the game, this wasn't a particularly good or impressive performance from Real Madrid. Uh, in that they had to depend on Corttois making saves. And to Stewie's point, while their strength is that the game gets open so that a guy like Mbappe can run and Bellingham can run and Arur can find space, which he did against David Rome time and time again, and he was driving him crazy. and the Mande can run and Vini when he's on the field he can run as well that part benefits Real Madrid but in them getting open in the game getting stretched now they have to defend and what they have proven time and time again is that they don't depend so much on Dean Hen doing the defending or Antonio Rudiger doing the defending that depending on Tio Cortto making the saves which then tells you that defensively they're not very solid they don't have a lot of structure through the midfield. Kamovinga and Bernardo Silva, I think both of them are too disorganized defensively. Bernardo Silva wants to get on the ball everywhere, but he leaves the middle and Kamovinga, he's just simply not good enough or clean enough on the ball and sometimes makes turnovers in bad areas. And so therefore, Livic gets on the counter, they get in transition, they find chances. It wasn't an impressive performance from Real Madrid, but when they get themselves in attacking positions and Kim Mbappe is doing the things that he did or Daniel Mande is doing the things that he did and they kind of go, well, problem resolved. Issue solved. No issue here. Nothing to see here. You go on and win the game seemingly comfortably. I don't think that was the case. >> Aduler, however, does continue to make a strong case for himself. I'm wondering, Jurgen, what you think of a player like Gouler? Are you a big fan? Yeah, I'm a big fan. I I love him. I love his creativity. I love his uh kind of uh Yeah, he's he's reading the game ahead. He knows what what comes up. He He knows where to position himself and where to put the ball. No, I I really enjoy watching him, you know, but I would like to add a little point to the to the game because I feel a bit sad for Albik. I feel sad because they had two three absolute good chances to to go into the lead to score the first goal and this would have been a fantastic opportunity to really cause massive problems to Real Madrid. If they score the first goal they can go backwards they can kind of drop and play counterbreak football which they are extremely extremely good in and I think if Deellis analyzes that game he will say but that was a missed absolute missed opportunity today. there was a chance actually to to hurt Real Madrid in their own stadium and get something out of it, get at least a tie out of it. Now, obviously the moment then when the goals rolled in, then there's nothing you can do anymore. But, uh, they were on on the upper front in the first half in my opinion and they missed that opportunity. >> A missed opportunity. What was your take on it, Frank, today? >> Well, you know what? Uh, it's always good to have a win, you know, before a big classicalico. And uh it's going to be a big classicalico for Real Madrid for sure. And uh what I like is I see that when they had the opportunity to score they did and it was clear but again again again and again they're so happy. They must be so happy to have a goalkeeper like that because as everybody can agree without Corttois it would have been a different story and in many occasions in the late well lately uh Real Madrid era they are so fortunate to have to have Cotto in their in their goal because he's for sure and from far the best goalkeeper in the world. >> Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about Yande finding his form if we can Robo because that's important for Real Madrid. This was a very expensive player. They've brought him in to do important things for Real Madrid. What are you making of his performances so far? Is he growing into his role? >> Yes. I don't think he's dominated games. He hasn't had the perfect game. He's made a lot of mistakes, but he's also done some very good things. He scored his goal today. I think he's better when he's playing on the left hand side, which he probably will do at the weekend, I would think, rather than playing on the right hand side where he made his debut. But he's a player that can go past people. I think he's growing in confidence. If he can score more goals, that'll be great. He's got to have an end product. But overall, I think he's had a a decent start, not an outstanding start, but a decent start to his Real Madrid career. And I'm sure he'll get better and better. And he's going to be given more chances with Vinnie Junior out. >> You think of some of the vulnerabilities of Barcelona and a lot of that has to do with the fact that Barcelona commits so many numbers forward that outside backs are usually not in a position where they can defend. And so then that forces Kuwaiti and Gerard Martin into areas in which perhaps they don't want to defend, they become exposed and Barcelona becomes vulnerable. That means that a guy like Yandom Mande if he's able to dominate the game and to impact the game in the manner in which two is mentioning then Real Madrid have a natural outlet to find and run after people and get after the defenders of Barcelona. But in order to do that, Real Madrid need to get a hold of the ball. And in order to get a hold of the ball, you need to have enough numbers in the midfield. You have to have structure in the midfield. And you have to have the ability to go and press the ball. And what I saw today from Real Madrid is that there were moments in which Brian Gruda, a lot of player, a lot of people out there would know who Brian Gruda is. Well, he was a player for Leipzig today who was dominating the midfield and left footed here and left footed there and let me get a touch here, let me get a touch there. and nobody gets close to him. And I'm thinking, okay, if I'm projecting to the weekend and that's Lamin and you're not getting close to him, what happens? If that's Pedri and you don't get close to him, what happened? If that's whoever you want to pick of Barcelona in terms of the attacking talent and you don't press him, you don't impact the way that they play, what happens? They're going to expose you. And so, we think of Real Madrid and what they can do in the attack to Barcelona, but I'm thinking they got to get a hold of the ball at some point. And how you going to do that when organizationally you're not in a position where you can actually go and tackle the ball and win it consistently? That's where they're going to have an issue. >> Yeah.