Thibaut Courtois ruled out for six weeks; to miss UCL tie vs Bayern Munich, La Liga clash vs Atletico Madrid

Thibaut Courtois faces a spell on the sidelines after picking up a thigh injury during Real Madrid’s 2-1 victory over Manchester City on Tuesday. The Belgian goalkeeper will now miss an estimated six weeks, as the club statement confirmed.

“Following tests carried out today on our player Thibaut Courtois by the Real Madrid Medical Services, he has been diagnosed with a muscle injury in the rectus femoris of his right quadriceps. His recovery will be monitored,” the club statement read.

He was substituted at halftime in the Champions League round of 16 second-leg clash, with Andriy Lunin taking over between the posts. Despite the change, Real Madrid sealed a 5-1 aggregate triumph, as Vinicius Jr. scored a brace at Etihad.

Notably, the injury is a major blow ahead of Sunday’s Madrid derby against Atlético in LaLiga and both legs of the UCL quarterfinal against Bayern Munich. If Courtois is sidelined for the full six weeks, he will miss seven games across all competitions.

With Real Madrid trailing Barcelona by four points in the league, coach Alvaro Arbeloa will hope to have Courtois fit for the El Clasico at Camp Nou on May 10, a match that could be pivotal in the title race.

Nevertheless, Lunin has experience of playing crucial UCL ties when Courtois was out with ACL in the 2023-24 season. The Ukrainian had a fantastic run in the tournament and is someone that the Los Blancos can put their trust in. 

Barcelona, Bayern are also dealing with goalkeeping issue

Meanwhile, Barcelona experienced a scare of their own when goalkeeper Joan Garcia had to be replaced by Wojciech Szczesny during Wednesday’s 7-2 win over Newcastle United. Fortunately for the Catalan side, medical tests showed no injury, and Garcia is available for Sunday’s LaLiga game against Rayo Vallecano.

On the other hand, Bayern too are having issues with goalkeeping availability. Three of their first-team keepers were out of the second leg of the UCL clash against Atalanta, as the Bavarians were dependent on Jonas Urbig, who was called up in the Germany squad ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026.