Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has said he won't be reluctant to take a penalty in the event that their Champions League last against Liverpool goes the distance on Saturday.
Courtois has an impressive record saving penalties this season, having stopped three of his five confronted, including one from Lionel Messi against Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the last 16.
It demonstrated a vital second as Madrid returned from 1-0 down in the second leg to win the tie 3-2.
The Belgian was also instrumental in Madrid's most ongoing penalty shoot-out triumph in 2020, as he plunged to palm away Thomas Partey's shot in the last of the Spanish Super Cup against Atletico Madrid. Real Madrid won their last Champions League last that went to penalties, also against Atletico in 2016.
Courtois said he will get his work done on Liverpool's most logical takers while the 30-year-old said he is also prepared to step up whenever required.
"I recollect in pre-season with Chelsea against PSG I scored one and in the Community Shield against Arsenal I missed one," said Courtois. "(Antonio) Conte put me there because he realized I could shoot well, however obviously standing on the spot, in a significant second, is unique.
"I wouldn't be one of the first five (takers), without a doubt, yet perhaps later, in the event that you want to shoot, you need to shoot. I don't fear it. It's a second to shine.
"We won one (shoot-out) against Atletico Madrid in the Super Cup a couple of years prior when I saved one penalty. This season I have saved three.
"You study ahead. Against Chelsea we had two penalties and you study them, because you can see the similarities. Ideally it won't return to that however assuming it does, I will be prepared."
Mohamed Salah has proactively said he wants vengeance for their loss to Real Madrid in the 2018 last, when two errors by Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius gifted Madrid the success.
Liverpool signed Alisson Becker a couple of weeks after the fact for a world-record 75 million euros and the Brazilian has been a disclosure from that point onward.
"He is an extraordinary goalkeeper," said Courtois. "The times I have played against him in England and with Real, he is probably the best goalkeeper on the planet.
"He has extraordinary quality and has saved Liverpool a ton of times. Nowadays you want a decent defense and goalkeeper and at the opposite end you really want strikers who score you goals, that takes you far."
"Assuming you return 15 or 20 years it was really unique," Courtois added. "To be a goalkeeper now you must be a playmaker from the back, you need to emerge as a 'libero' to (meet) the ball in behind and run out and take it.
"They anticipate that you should be quiet ready and to make decisive passes however obviously you don't have someone behind you that can save you because you are the last man.
"You know that sometimes there can be a mistake and I trust it is not coming for me. I would rather not wish that on any goalkeeper."
Real Madrid have shown their enchanted touch again in the Champions League this season, in the wake of staging three consecutive comebacks against PSG, Chelsea and afterward Manchester City to arrive at the last.
"You just need to see the games we played at home against Paris, Chelsea and City. The second we balance or score that goal, the response of the other group - you can see that they know what can occur," Courtois said.
"You can see at 1-1 against City, the response of the players. That makes Madrid so special, to that end it is so astonishing and individuals talk so much about the history of Real Madrid."
Real Madrid will be going for a record-expanding fourteenth European Cup while Liverpool will pursue their seventh, to pull level with AC Milan as the second most successful club in the opposition's history.
Liverpool have previously won the League Cup and FA Cup in England this season.
"We don't need to go off the deep end because a game could go this way and that," said Courtois. "We must be clear about how we need to play and not play their game. We need to make them play our game, that's what is significant."
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