After not being selected for the role of stand-in captain the previous week, Thibaut Courtois has decided not to go with the rest of the Belgium team to Tallinn for their Euro 2024 qualifying match against Estonia on Tuesday.
Romelu Lukaku donned the captain’s armband during Belgium’s 1-1 draw with Austria over the weekend, since Kevin De Bruyne, the team’s customary captain, was unavailable for the match.
Domenico Tedesco, the head coach of the team, said that the intention had been for his two vice-captains, Real Madrid goalkeeper Courtois and Romelu Lukaku, to lead the team in one match each while the team was away for the international break.
“After the game Thibaut suddenly wanted to talk to me and told me he was going home because he was disappointed and felt insulted,” Tedesco said at a news conference on Monday. “After the game Thibaut suddenly wanted to talk to me and told me he was going home because he was disappointed and felt insulted.”
“In my opinion, he is the very finest goalie that the world has ever seen. I have a lot of respect for him not just as a goalie but also as a person.
“I am taken aback and flabbergasted that he could be insulted and upset.
“In March, we came to the conclusion that Kevin would serve as our team captain, and that Lukaku and Courtois would serve as our vice captains,”
Courtois claimed in his statement that he was “surprised” to hear Tedesco “give a partial and subjective view of a private conversation”
“I asked him, not out of personal interest, to explain and take decisions to avoid situations we have already experienced that have harmed us,” he added. “I asked him to explain and take decisions because we have already experienced situations that have harmed us.”
“To be captain or not isn’t a whim or a random decision; it’s up to him (Tedesco) to decide and that’s what I tried to make him understand,” I said. “It’s not a decision that should be made on a whim or by chance.”
Matz Sels, the goalkeeper for Strasbourg, will start in goal for the game against Estonia in lieu of Courtois.
According to reports in the Belgian media, Courtois’s choice even caught his teammates off guard.
“It’s a sad situation,” said veteran defender Jan Vertonghen. “It’s a shame.”
Although I would like it more if Thibaut were present, I see the significance of the group process. This process is now almost probably going to be interrupted, and it will be necessary to find a solution.
throughout the World Cup that took place in 2018, Belgium was said to have been plagued by internal strife, and as a result, they were eliminated in the group stage. De Bruyne even said that the squad was “too old” throughout the competition.
After the embarrassing loss in Qatar, former captain Eden Hazard announced his retirement from international football, and coach Roberto Martinez also resigned.
Belgium currently holds the second spot in Group F behind Austria in the Euro qualification standings with four points after two games.