Zidane removed Courtois due to illness, 'not at all' worried about his form

Thibaut Courtois' evening came to an early end Tuesday when Zinedine Zidane replaced the Belgian 'keeper with Alphonse Areola after an opening half in which Club Brugge took a surprising 2-0 lead over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Replacing Courtois initially appeared to be a tactical decision after he stopped only one of Brugge's three shots on target in the opening half, but Zidane later revealed the goalkeeper couldn't continue because of an apparent illness and insisted he still has faith in the 27-year-old.

"Courtois wasn't well and couldn't continue," Zidane told reporters, according to beIN Sports. "I'm not at all worried about Thibaut's form or anything else. The only thing I'm interested in is doing things well, like we did in the second half.

"We could blame Thibaut but we are all involved, me more than anyone."

Club Brugge forward Emmanuel Bonaventure opened the scoring when he appeared to miskick the ball past a diving Courtois, who seemingly dropped to the ground prematurely.

Bonaventure doubled Brugge's lead with a superb finish after Courtois failed to close down the Nigerian before the ball sailed into the roof of the net.

Areola, who was brought into the match with left-back Marcelo, was forced into action shortly after the break when he leaped off his line to deny Bonaventure from recording a hat-trick. Sergio Ramos' header on the other end of the pitch cut Brugge's lead in half moments later.