Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is currently recovering from his torn anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered just before the start of the season, and is due to be fully fit before the end of it. However he will not return to Belgium duty before the end of the summer.
There had been reports that he was planning on skipping the Euros in Germany this summer, but those rumours were denied. During a bombastic interview with Sporza in Belgium, Courtois in fact confirmed that was the case though, and explained that he would not be able to prepare for the tournament in the manner he would like. Relevo carried his words.
“Due to the injury, there will be no European Championship for me. First I have to recover 100% completely and then it is better not to set a date for it. If I am lucky, I can play another match in May. But you can never be 100% ready for a big tournament.”
He was also unhappy with Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco. Last summer he left the Belgium camp early ahead of a match with Austria, after reportedly being frustrated with the fact that Tedesco had awarded the captaincy to Romelu Lukaku and not him. Courtois apologised for doing so.
“Well, first I would like to apologise for that. It was a wrong decision to leave after the game against Austria. I would like to apologise to the team and especially to the fans. I think those two groups were the most surprised. Therefore: 100% my I apologise and I’m sorry.”
“On Saturday of the match, a few hours before kick-off, Tedesco called Lukaku and me in. When he said that Romelu was captain against Austria and I was captain against Estonia on Tuesday, something broke inside me. It no longer worked. The fact that I no longer felt the appreciation of the federation or the coach made something explode inside me.”
Yet he went after Tedesco, and revealed that the former Schalke coach had threatened to expose him if he did talk about it.
“In fact, Tedesco explained to me in seven different versions why Romelu was captain. Each time it was different: once he decided on Thursday, then on Friday, then the day after the final…”
“To save the situation, I spoke with [Franky] Vercauteren – Belgium’s sporting director – until half past four at night in Tubize. About the national team, about my club’s things, about the system, about everything. But Tedesco left after 15-20 minutes; he was already tired of talking to me.”
He would go on to say that during his first international break with Tedesco, he was the only one of the captains present, but Tedesco did not say word to him. ‘I already felt as if something strange was happening.’
Courtois has always been a leader for Los Blancos, but has shown on several occasions that he requires the utmost respect not just from his colleagues, but managers and the press in the past. Most notably, he recalled being left out of the best 10 goalkeepers in the world by an English magazine just moments after the 2022 Champions League final. It’s something he has always enjoyed at the Santiago Bernabeu, but the Belgian dressing room has on occasion seen personality clashes spill over.
