Thibaut Courtois sharply criticizes his own Ballon d’Or ranking

Thibaut Courtois was presented with the Yashin trophy at the Ballon d’Or ceremony. But he wasn’t really happy that evening – the keeper didn’t like his placement in the Ballon d’Or election.

In the men’s competition, Thibaut Courtois was voted seventh in the Ballon d’Or rankings, ahead of Vinicius Jr. and Erling Haaland, among others. Only Karim Benzema, Sadio Mané, Kevin De Bruyne, Robert Lewandowski, Mohamed Salah and Kylian Mbappé finished ahead of the Belgian, who was the top-ranked goalkeeper of choice and consequently also received the Yashin trophy.

Real Madrid’s number one was not satisfied with his performance. “I’m very happy for Karim Benzema,” he said on the microphone Cadena SER (via DH). His own ranking, on the other hand, was a thorn in his side: “I’m not saying that I like him [den Ballon d’Or] should win – but I’m not even on the podium despite being the goalkeeper who won La Liga and the Champions League.”

“They say scoring a goal is better than keeping a goal. It’s a fight yet to be won. Once I saw the logic and how they voted, I knew I wouldn’t have a chance to win,” he criticized.

In fact, only one goalkeeper in the history of the Ballon d’Or has managed to win the award: Russia’s Lev Yashin – after whom the award for the best goalkeeper of the year was consequently named – achieved the feat in 1963.

The last goalkeeper to finish in the top three was Manuel Neuer in 2014 (3rd).

“A goalkeeper as a prizewinner? I see that as impossible for a goalkeeper,” said Courtois. “It’s impossible to win this award. I don’t know if you can achieve more as a goalkeeper than what I achieved last year.”

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This article was originally published on 90min.com/de as.