Navas: Research helped me save Griezmann penalty

Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas has claimed that research helped him keep out Antoine Griezmann’s penalty in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Atletico.

Although the Frenchman had not taking any penalties in official games for Atletico previous to Sunday’s 22nd-minute attempt, Navas seemed confident of where Griezmann would put the ball and denied him with a fine save to his left.

Navas was adamant that his save was not down to luck, though, and stressed that he regularly works on keeping spot-kicks out.

“That’s something I research and work on,” Navas told the Madrid website when asked his penalty save.

“God is on my side and he helped me make my decision and save the penalty.”

Navas was once more called into action by Jackson Martinez late on and he was delighted to salvage a draw with another reflex save.

“You always have to be on your toes in order to help the team out; it was a tricky shot but luckily I was able to keep it out.”

The Costa Rica international seemed on his way out of Madrid during the last transfer window as a  makeweight in the ultimately failed swoop for Manchester United’s David de Gea.

Navas recently admitted that particular situation was a difficult moment for him, but he has made it clear that he has moved on and is happy with life at the Santiago Bernabeu.

“What happened during the summer is in the past, I’m living in the present moment now. I wanted to be the first-choice keeper and I’m really enjoying things at the moment,” he stated.

“Hopefully we can get to the end of the year with the points tally we set out for ourselves so as to be on course to achieve our objective, which is to win La Liga.”