Andriy Lunin has now played 14 Champions League matches for Real Madrid over the past four seasons, a stretch that has turned him from cover into a dependable part of the club’s European story. With Thibaut Courtois unavailable again, the Ukrainian is back in goal as Madrid face Olympiacos in this edition of the competition.
Across those 14 games, Madrid have won seven, drawn five and lost two with Lunin in goal. The defeats came last season, when the team lost 1-0 at Lille and 1-3 against Milan in the league phase. He has conceded 19 goals in those matches, but the numbers only tell part of the story. Lunin has also kept three clean sheets, against Braga, Leipzig and in the second half he played at the Etihad 20 days earlier. He was decisive in that 15th Champions League-winning campaign, when he parried a penalty against Braga, made nine saves against Leipzig and stopped penalties from Bernardo Silva and Kovacic against Manchester City.
Lunin’s latest outing came in his third Champions League match in this edition, after appearances against Olympiacos in the group stage and in the second half of the second leg against Manchester City at the Etihad. That run fits a familiar pattern for Real Madrid: when Courtois is absent, Lunin has usually been trusted to handle the biggest nights. Two years ago, he also played in the tie against Bayern that opened the door to Madrid’s 15th European Cup.
He says the approach never changes. “What I always do is the same: prepare for every match, be ready and help by contributing everything I can,” Lunin said. For Madrid, the tension is not whether he can fill in for one game. It is whether he can keep doing it in the matches that matter most, and keep making those nights look routine.