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While the No. 1 Belgian admits that the Blancos have failed to completely replace the Portuguese striker, the players do not think about his absence
The departure of Cristiano Ronaldo was strongly felt by Real Madrid, according to the goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, but the locker room of Santiago Bernabeu does not regret the loss of his old talisman.
Ronaldo has been Madrid's all-time scorer since joining Juventus, the Italian champion, in July. The form of Los Blancos has weakened this season.
Julen Lopetegui was sacked as head coach after a 5-1 win over Clasico against Barcelona. Although the situation has slightly improved under the orders of Santiago Solari, they have only 10 points ahead of their rivals at the top of La Liga.
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Courtois arrived from Chelsea a month later after the release of Ronaldo and the Belgian international insists that the specter of the winner of the Golden Ball five times does not dwell on the Madrid season .
"We do not talk about him in the locker room," said Courtois in an interview with the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad .
"It's mainly the press that dropped its name, there were lost matches in which we had 10 chances but we did not score.
"At the same time, he scores two goals for Juventus, and then it's easy to talk about him."
Despite the efforts of Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale – the latter among struggles of persistent wounds – Courtois admits that the void left by Ronaldo is obvious.
"If Ronaldo goes away and there is no real striker in his place, you know it will be a difficult year," he said. "You take away 50 goals.
"You're hoping Benzema or Bale will score more, and in part, they're doing it too, and we've made progress in the last few weeks.
"We won the Club World Cup, are still active in the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.
"In the Liga, we are 10 points behind, but sometimes Barcelona also has some tough games to win at the last minute.
"Maybe it's a year of transition, for me it does not matter if the first year is shorter if the next ones are on top."
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Indeed, Courtois sees parallels with his first season at Atletico Madrid – an badociation that ended with his help to Diego Simeone's men for their unforgettable Liga triumph in 2013-14.
"At Atletico, the first six months did not go well either," he added.
"So Simeone arrived and we were gone, these first six months have already been forgotten by many people."
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