Thibaut Courtois accepts power in Premier League but says Spanish clubs can rule

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois believes the club’s continued success in Europe can offset the power of the Premier League.

For the fifth time in six seasons, England’s top flight will have at least two representatives in the quarter-finals of the competition, which the Spanish giants have won 14 times.

Six Premier League sides have featured in the last five finals – two have all been top events – and Liverpool and Chelsea have won one each, the same number Real have won in the same period after three in four years from 2014-17 and the winner is .

Despite English clubs having the financial clout, the La Liga giants have shown they are still the team to be reckoned with at European elite level and a 6-2 aggregate win over Liverpool propelled them into the bottom once again Eight.

“It’s hard to say if it’s the best league or not but with the new investment in Chelsea, City and Newcastle there’s definitely a lot of appeal to go to the Premier League,” said former Chelsea goalkeeper Courtois. who cited Manchester City’s signing by Erling Haaland as an example.

“It’s a really exciting league, that’s for sure, a very competitive league and the level is really high. But I think we’re showing that we have a great team and that you can’t underestimate Spanish teams. We showed it again.

“Obviously it’s nice to beat English teams because I was there for a couple of years, but when you’re in the Champions League you want to win against everyone – maybe next up are Portuguese and Italian clubs.”

He added to Haaland: “He’s a great player. He was perhaps what City have been missing in recent years. I think that’s (an example of) where the Premier League might have an advantage over other leagues.

“That is the strength of the Premier League; what they’ve done over the past few years to make everyone strong and give everyone the (TV) money and when they descend they have parachute money. All of these things make a difference in the strength of the league.

“Hopefully we can make up for that. I really feel like this is a place that LaLiga can learn from and I think they’re doing it step by step.

“You can see a lot of LaLiga build new stadiums or make their stadiums nicer, but (it) always helps when you see every Premier League ground is full. We need the same thing here, and then the product can be better.”