Courtois questions Real Madrid's 'individual' attack after lopsided loss to Arsenal

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Courtois questions Real Madrid's 'individual' attack after lopsided loss to Arsenal

2025-04-17 19:41 Last Updated At：20:00

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Thibaut Courtois watched from the other end of the pitch as Real Madrid’s forwards took turns crashing against the Arsenal defense.

Courtois had done his part by stopping a penalty. But Kylian Mbappé's best shot sailed high and wide. Rodrygo’s dribbles got him nowhere, and Vinícius needed a defensive blunder to take Madrid’s sole goal of a 5-1 aggregate defeat in the Champions League quarterfinals.

“Sometimes you have to be self-critical and have a good look at everything,” the Belgian goalkeeper said after the 2-1 home loss to Arsenal midweek.

“Maybe we need to make more team moves and not so many individual ones, because if they double-mark Vini or Mbappé they can break it once, but not three, four or five times," Courtois said. “We can’t always rely on one of our four attacking players dribbling past three defenders and scoring a great goal, we have to attack and defend better as a team."

Exiting from the competition it has won five times in the last decade was not what Madrid expected when it added Mbappé to a squad that was coming off a record 15th European Cup and Spanish league title last season.

The France captain has scored a glut of goals in his first season with Madrid but failed to come up big in the biggest games, including two lopsided losses to Barcelona. Jeers were heard for Mbappé when he limped off the field on Wednesday with a hurt right ankle.

The hard truth is that the team has played worse with him on board. Madrid has had injuries in defense and it lost midfielder Toni Kroos to retirement but its attack has failed to click, with Mbappé having to adapt to a central striker role as Vinícius' production dropped.

Courtois even called into question the range of attacking options for a squad that also counted on Endrick and Brahim Díaz as sparks off the bench. The goalie said Madrid was missing the tall, big striker who could win balls in the box like Joselu Mato, who scored critical goals in last season’s Champions League.

“It was difficult to find openings and we had little success. We were also unlucky with balls into the box. This year we don’t have a Joselu who can win those duels,” Courtois said. “Now we have to analyze what we can do better because we still have the (Spanish) league, the final of the Copa del Rey and the Club World Cup, and we want to get everything right.”

There will be little let up for Madrid with a strong Athletic Bilbao arriving on Sunday aiming to dig into the wound left by Arsenal.

Madrid must try to overhaul a four-point deficit to Barcelona in La Liga as it tries to salvage the season by defending its domestic title.

Madrid could be facing a seven-point gap with Barcelona by kickoff, if the front-runner beats Celta Vigo at home on Saturday.

Madrid will also face Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final next week, but coach Carlo Ancelotti will likely also need his team to retain the league crown to keep his job. The Italian manager admitted his future was in doubt after his team was outplayed by Arsenal, while also attempting to dampen speculation.

“I’m only thinking about preparing for the next game to stay in the fight for the league title and try to win the Copa del Rey,” he said.

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James Harden scores 28 points and Clippers force Game 7 with a gritty 111-105 win over Nuggets

2025-05-02 14:04 Last Updated At：14:12

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — With the Los Angeles Clippers' season on the brink, Tyronn Lue took the unusual step of checking in with several players by phone on their off day. The coach said he “took a lot of temperatures,” making sure they were mentally ready to fight for their playoff lives.

In Game 6, the Clippers answered his call.

James Harden had 28 points and eight assists in an outstanding bounce-back performance, Kawhi Leonard added 27 points and the Clippers forced a seventh game in their first-round NBA playoff series with a 111-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.

Norman Powell scored 24 points for the Clippers, who rebounded from back-to-back losses with an impressive effort at new Intuit Dome. Los Angeles took control in the second half while playing tenacious defense on Nikola Jokic, who scored 20 of his 25 points in the first half.

“I give our guys credit for just staying with it,” Lue said. “(They) don’t get deflated, and we did a good job. ... I told the guys after the game, it’s about being a team and whatever it takes to win. Those guys totally understood it.”

Game 7 is Saturday in Denver.

Jamal Murray scored 21 points for the Nuggets, who lost a potential series-clinching playoff game for the fourth time in five tries over the past two seasons since their 2023 championship run. Denver also blew a 3-2 series lead over Minnesota in the second round last season.

The Nuggets haven’t won a Game 7 since 2020, when they ousted the Clippers from the conference semifinals in the Florida bubble.

“They were quicker to the punch,” Murray said. “They played with a lot more desperation because their backs were against the wall, and you’ve got to give them credit. The whole game, they brought it.”

The Clippers were pushed to this comeback win by the 35-year-old Harden, who played aggressively and craftily after receiving criticism for a passive effort in Game 5. Leonard also stepped up, with the two-time NBA champion adding 10 rebounds and five assists in an assertive outing.

“It was win or go home, so there were opportunities to be aggressive, and I took them,” Harden said. “One more game. ... We didn't want to go home. We've got one more game left.”

Ivica Zubac and Nicolas Batum teamed up for a surprisingly effective defensive effort on the typically unguardable Jokic. The three-time MVP was held scoreless for 11 minutes in the third quarter and went only 2 for 9 in the second half.

Los Angeles led by 15 with less than six minutes to play, but Denver made an 11-2 run to trim the Clippers’ lead to 107-101 before Powell buried a 3-pointer with 1:47 left.

Powell’s clutch bucket was Los Angeles’ only field goal in the final 5:57, but the Clips hung on with defense. Russell Westbrook missed a layup under pressure and had another layup blocked on consecutive possessions in the final minutes, and Zubac blocked a layup attempt by Jokic with 24 seconds left.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA