Thibaut Courtois: Reaching a cup final is 'the only way to save our season'

Our second meeting this season against Manchester United had a lot more of action compared to the first one back in December last year. The 1-1 scoreline was only kept so low thanks to the tremendous efforts of both goalkeepers, David de Gea and Thibaut Courtois.

As one of the key players involved in the affair, Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said that the team wanted to win the match, but taking a draw after falling behind in the scoresheet is a good result nonetheless.

"After their goal we had some chances and in the end we scored, so it was a good draw. Obviously we wanted to win but sometimes you have to take a point. We had a positive reaction after going 1-0 down."

"The game at Old Trafford was one where the goalkeepers were very important and so was yesterday, we try to help our teams and that's what we did."

"In the first half and up until their goal it was me making more saves but at the end De Gea made some good saves. I think the one when it was 1-1 [from Diego Costa] was the best one."

"It's obviously very good that we're fighting back to get these draws against good sides like Manchester United and Everton, it's good for the spirit of the team, but we want to win games."

As a plus, Chelsea also extended their unbeaten run to 11 games since José Mourinho's sacking last year — although 6 of these matches have been draws.

These draws haven't been helpful in our case to climb up the Premier League table as the Blues stand at the 13th position, two points behind 12th-place Crystal Palace. Our next three games, in the space of just 8 days, are against Newcastle in the league, Paris Saint-Germain at the Champions League, Manchester City for the FA Cup; Courtois is looking forward to getting some crucial wins out of this run.

"We've had too many draws to climb the table. In other games, like against Watford and West Brom, we should have won, so it's a pity because we could have maybe been ninth or eighth but we are where we are."

"The Newcastle game next week is a very important one where we have to get the three points. We've had too many draws at Stamford Bridge and the supporters deserve a victory."

"After that we play in the Champions League and FA Cup against two great sides [in Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City] and we have to try to win those games because the only way to save our season is to reach the final in one or both of them."

"The confidence is good, in the last three or four games we've barely conceded a goal. We have the confidence to go to PSG and win the game; we know it's really difficult, last year we had a really tough game there but we want to get a good result to bring back to Stamford Bridge and finish it here."

-Thibaut Courtois; source: Chelsea FC

Winning a cup final may not completely save this season — the damage done already is too great — but it is the only way to reach European competition next season.  FA Cup winners qualify for the Europa League; Champions League winners qualify for next season's tournament.  Given our terrible season, no one but ourselves believe in our chances to overcome these challenges; we should prove them wrong once again.