Football
ESPN staff 9y

Keylor Navas sets clean sheet record and thanks Real Madrid fans

Keylor Navas has thanked Real Madrid's fans for their support after he broke a club record for clean sheets at the start of a season.

Navas, 28, almost left Real in the summer only for a proposed transfer that would have seen Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea head in the opposite direction collapse on Spain's deadline day.

The Costa Rica international has been impressive for Los Blancos since the collapse of the exit, with his clean sheet in Saturday's 1-0 win over Granada a fifth in a row in all competitions.

The fifth straight shutout since the start of 2015-16 betters former Real keeper Miguel Angel's sequence of four on the spin at the beginning of the 1975-76 campaign.

"It was a difficult night for me at the end of the transfer market but that is now in the past," Navas told reporters.

"Now I am thinking of the present and the coach [Rafa Benitez] believes in me. I have had the chance to stay and I will give my best. I am very grateful to the Real fans for their support which is not easy to earn."

Marca reports that Navas is now just 10 minutes away from bettering Iker Casillas' personal best without conceding a goal, after the Spaniard went 460 minutes without being beaten in 2008-09.

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