‘The Tarantula’ aims to deny Messi again
If Lionel Messi has anything to worry about at this World Cup it should be a goalkeeper known as “the Tarantula” who he has failed to score against in the last seven clashes.
Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Messi will have the latest of their epic battles when their countries meet on Saturday.
It is almost a David and Goliath tale. The question is, which is which? The 1.99 metres (6 feet 6 inches) tall Courtois towers over his 1.69m (5ft 7 inch) rival Messi.
The winner of four Ballon d’Or awards though, has scored four times already at this World Cup.
Courtois is known as “The Tarantula” because foes believe he has eight arms to cover all angles.
Still only 22, Courtois racked up his 100th career clean sheet against Russia in their Group H match last week. It is the matches between Messi’s Barcelona and Courtois’s Atletico Madrid that makes their rivalry so special.
In their first meeting in September, 2011, Messi humiliated Courtois with a hat-trick in a 5-0 win. The following February, a quick free-kick flummoxed the Belgian. In December 2012, there was another Messi brace.
Since then there have been seven games where Courtois and fate have denied the Argentine.
In two games, Messi went off injured. He slammed a penalty against the crossbar in another and in May had a goal ruled offside.
Courtois, who inspired the word ‘Thibauting’ when a wave of social media photos were posted of fans re-enacting his saves, is confident of keeping up his spider’s web protection. “The good thing is that I don’t have to watch videos of him because I know him so well,” Courtois said.