Thibaut Courtois' Real Madrid debut: Analysis

Last Saturday evening against Leganés saw one of Los Blancos' summer signings making his competitive league debut. Thibaut Courtois is the first Belgian to play for Real Madrid since Fernand Goyvaerts in 1967, 51 years ago.

Things were going well for Courtois until the 24th minute, when Javier Eraso awkwardly fell under the challenge of Casemiro inside the box before a penalty was awarded to the visitors.

It was an opportunity for Courtois to end his curse of failing to keep a clean sheet on his debut, though Leganes' winger Guido Carrillo - formerly of Monaco and Southampton - made no mistake from the resulting spot-kick.

Real soon restored their lead and ultimately, Courtois didn't have much more work to do for the remainder of the evening. He completed 17 passes with four accurate long balls (100% accuracy).

Understandably, the 26-year-old was pleased to make his competitive debut, saying: "I'm delighted to have made my debut for the best team in the world. Training is great but walking out onto the pitch at the Bernabéu is something else. I've waited for this moment for a long time."

When asked about his relationship with Keylor Navas, he said: "Whenever Keylor has played, he's done a great job and I think I did well today too. It's the best possible thing for the team. The press is looking for controversy where it doesn't exist - we get on very well and wish each other luck, no problem."

Thibaut, pictured here during Real's league game against Girona, had to bide his time patiently

Meanwhile his new boss Julen Lopetegui revealed it'll be an ongoing battle between the pair for Real's starting slot in goal: "In the future, we'll see. We always try to find the best solutions - the competition is good for all positions."

Lopetegui, who himself is a former goalkeeper, is convinced he can keep both players content, according to recent reports in Spain.

The club's management are aware that the previous rotations between Íker Casillas and Navas or Casillas and Diego Lopez failed to work seamlessly - so it'll be interesting to see how he delegates who plays which specific games. One for the league, another for Champions League? Time will tell.