Courtois breaks down how Real Madrid erased a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 in Rome

Going down 3-1 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome and ending up celebrating a 4-3 is not something you see every day. Real Madrid pulled it off in Matchday 2 of the Champions League, and Thibaut Courtois, with his usual candor, took it upon himself to explain what it's like to live through a roller coaster like that from between the posts.

The Belgian did not shy away from discussing the goals conceded. The team's "mistakes," he said, cost them "three goals" against, and he went into detail on each of them for the competition's official media.

On the first and second goals, we lost the ball easily and they scored on the counterattack, so that one was on us. And we had bad luck when the ball came off a rebound and went in. The third one was possibly a penalty for us, and in the end it turned into the opposite.Thibaut Courtois

But far from sinking Madrid, the match ended up bringing out the best in a team that never gave up. Courtois was clear on that point: even with the score against them, giving up was never an option.

Obviously I'll sleep well. After the 3-1, of course I didn't think the match was over for us, because we always fight, but here in Rome they play very well. We had problems, but we believed until the end. We scored three goals from set pieces, so great work from the whole staff, and the players always believed.Thibaut Courtois

A comeback built from the bench

The goalkeeper also pointed to his coach's substitutions, which in his reading of the match were key to shifting its dynamic. With more possession and more chances created, Madrid began to sense that a comeback was possible.

And that's when belief took over in the locker room, even in the toughest moments. Courtois admitted that once the team made it 3-3, he was already picturing something more than a simple draw. "When you score to make it 3-2 and you've got ten minutes left plus stoppage time, you know you can get the third one, and once we got it we went for the fourth. It's an incredible feeling, because we knew we had to win, but the mistakes we made cost us three goals," he had explained earlier about that late tension.

The final part of his comments summed up the value of the result well. This wasn't just another win: it was a victory that leaves the team with a perfect record against heavyweight Italian opponents.

They played well and scored. The coach made good substitutions, we started playing better, getting more possession of the ball, and we created more chances. I was dreaming about this during the match, hoping that in the end we could win 3-4, and when we equalized I knew we'd at least get a point, but winning here and getting six out of six against two such strong Italian sides is a good start.Thibaut Courtois

Six points out of six against Italian clubs is no small thing, and the goalkeeper himself made that clear. Madrid suffered, made mistakes and paid for it on the scoreboard, but found in their persistence and their set pieces the formula to take all three points from Rome.