Belgian football star, Yannick Carrasco has said that they are “disappointed” with Thibaut Courtois over how he reacted to Romelu Lukaku being named as the national team’s captain during the Euro 2024 qualifiers match against Austria.
It was reported earlier that the Real Madrid goal-stopper felt insulted by not being named captain for the match against Austria which ended in a 1-1 draw. The armband was given to Romelu Lukaku instead, who scored the equalizer for Belgium.
Courtois claimed that he had a knee problem that prevented him from playing against Estonia on Tuesday, but his coach Domenico Tedesco revealed that the real reason was his frustration with the captaincy decision.
Tedesco said he had planned to rotate the armband among different players, and that Courtois would have been the captain for the Estonia game. However, Courtois did not accept this explanation and decided to leave the group without informing anyone.
He also denied Tedesco’s version of events and insisted that he left because of his injury. He added that he is proud to play for Belgium and would always give his best for his country.
Sharing his thoughts on how Thibaut Courtois reacted to the issue during an interview with RTBF journalist, Manuel Jous, Carrasco said;
“We’ve more or less understood what happened. We had a meeting with the coach, who was clear with us. We, the older players, haven’t yet had the opportunity to speak with Thibaut. But we were disappointed with his reaction.
“At the end of the day, he’s a key member of the team, one of the three captains. An armband is just a detail. You have to show that you’re a leader and a captain with your own personality. He chose to leave. Whether he was embarrassed or not, we don’t know. But one of the reasons he left was also the armband. Now that’s clear.”
Strasbourg keeper Matz Sels started in Courtois’ place as they defeated Estonia 3-0 in Tallinn. The result means they sit three points behind Group F leaders Austria, but they have a game in hand.
Leave a Reply