THIBAUT COURTOIS SAYS individual mistakes – including his own – made the difference as Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona.
The Catalan giants progressed to the quarter-finals after a 3-0 win at Camp Nou, with Courtois twice beaten through his legs by Lionel Messi, who reached 100 Champions League goals.
Chelsea had led the tie in the first leg before Andreas Christensen’s poor pass led to Messi scoring a vital away goal in a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
And Courtois accepted that errors had been costly for the Premier League champions over the two matches, with Messi catching him out at his near post for Barca’s third-minute opener.
“I don’t think we deserved to be out but obviously individual mistakes cost us in both legs,” Courtois told BT Sport.
“On the first one I did not expect Messi to shoot from there. I was too late to close my legs and it is a mistake on my part.
“They scored from our mistakes but apart from that we played well. We hit the crossbar twice and it was unlucky on our side.”
Messi appeared to shape to cross before placing a right-footed finish through the legs of Courtois for his first goal, with the Argentina international’s left-footed, nutmeg finish in the second half ending any hopes of a Chelsea comeback.
“I’ve played against him a lot of times and I already conceded goals between my legs from him,” Courtois added.
“For a goalkeeper like me, from two metres out that is possible the biggest weakness – the place for him to score.
“But I do not hide inside, I have to come out and be a man and face it.”
