Thibaut Courtois, the best goalkeeper of the year: he was decorated with the Lev Yashin award

The 2022 Ballon d’Or gala, where France Football magazine honors the best footballers of the year, has been taking place this Monday at the Châtelet Theater in Paris. Not surprisingly, the Lev Yashin award, for the most outstanding goalkeeper, went to Thibaut Courtois, after his great campaign at Real Madrid.

The lanky Belgian goalkeeper beat France’s Mike Maignan (AC Milan) and Brazil’s Alisson (Liverpool) and Ederson (Manchester City). For this branch of the ceremony, the Ivorian Sébastien Haller was in charge of delivering the award.

“I want to thank all my teammates, technical command and the club”were the first words of Courtois after taking the podium. “Last year was impressive and it has been difficult, because there are very good goalkeepers”he added with evident emotion.

“It is complicated with everything that is in the way and I also want to mention those who helped me get up, I thank you for supporting me”Thibaut highlighted, generating applause from all those attending the luxurious venue.

Let us remember that Courtois was a key star of Real Madrid and was proclaimed champion of LaLiga Santander and the Spanish Super Cup at the local level during the 2021-22 season. And in international competition, the goalkeeper shone in winning the Champions League title, keeping his unbeaten record in the final against Liverpool.

On the other hand, it is worth mentioning that Karim Benzema, also a member of the ‘Merengues’, won the 2022 Ballon d’Or. It is the first time that ‘Gato’ has won this award and is the first Frenchman to win it since 1998, when Zinedine Zidane was chosen as the best footballer of the year. Precisely, ‘Zizou’ delivered the award.