Latest Thibaut Courtois Stat Highlights Major Real Madrid Flaw

Real Madrid restart their campaign against Villareal this Saturday with hopes of a resurgence after a pretty slow start to the campaign.

The long and extended international break could turn out to be the perfect pause for manager Jose Mourinho to re-evaluate and rectify their flaws before the turn of the year.

Los Blancos players who were on international duty have already returned to Valdebebas and started preparing for this weekend's game at the Bernabeu.

Kylian Mbappe's injury scare has also seemingly subsided, as a recent report from Real Madrid Roundtable suggested that the French international is fit and ready to start this Saturday.

However a recent report from Diario AS regarding Thibaut Courtois' contributions so-far this season might be a bit of concern for Mourinho and co. to address.

As reported by the outlet, Courtois faced a total of 37 shots during the eight matches he has played so far this season, the highest after this many games in his entire Real Madrid career so far.

The Belgian shot stopper was able to keep out 76% of those shots that came his way, conceding a total of nine goals so far this season.

Previously, the highest number was 35 shots, which he faced during the 2020-21 campaign, conceding the same amount of goals as in this campaign in the first eight games which he played.

These numbers seemingly puts a question mark on the Whites' defenders , whose sole objective is to try and minimize the number of shots headed towards their goalkeepers.

Apparently the likes of Dean Huijsen, Antonio Rudiger, and Ibrahima Konate have looked mostly unimpressive so far this season.

The absence of Eder Militao and Raul Asencio has also limited Mourinho’s options at center-back currently.

Despite the lack of compactness from the Los Blancos defence, Courtois has left little room for any criticism.

Without the shadow of a doubt, the Belgian has already established himself as the Merengues' most reliable performers over the years.

Every Real Madrid fan vividly remembers Courtois' performance against Liverpool back in the 2022 Champions League final, where he was named the player of the match after making nine saves on the night.

The 34-year-old has given numerous other match winning performances for his club since his arrival back in 2018 and the talks of a contract renewal with the Whites is already underway and is expected to be made official in the coming days.

But the outfield players, especially the Merengues' center-backs will need to step up their game if they are to get back to winning ways and end their trophy drought this season.