After almost two years, Thibaut Courtois (32) is back in the Belgian national team squad because Domenico Tedesco is no longer their coach. He has now once again had a few harsh words for the German.
At a press conference at the Belgian team’s headquarters on Tuesday, Thibaut Courtois said of Tedesco, who was fired in January: “I didn’t feel any respect. The coach never came to me once. I’ve never experienced anything like this in 16 years. I exploded at that moment, I didn’t understand it.”
The rift between the Real Madrid goalkeeper and the German coach dates back to June 2023, when Tedesco, deputizing for the injured Kevin De Bruyne, handed the captaincy to Romelu Lukaku – and not to Courtois, who had been honored before the game for his 100th international appearance – in the European Championship qualifier against Austria (1-1).
The goalkeeper finally left after the game, although there was still a game against Estonia, where Courtois – according to the agreement made earlier – should have actually worn the captain’s armband. Mutual accusations followed, in which Courtois accused his coach of lying, and the dispute escalated.
On Tuesday, Courtois admitted that he had made a mistake in leaving at short notice: “There is no doubt that I was going through a difficult phase mentally after my long and demanding season with many injuries.” However, he also “felt that there were problems with the coach.” The game against Austria remained his last game for the national team to date, and last summer he stated that he no longer wanted to play for Belgium under Tedesco’s management.
After the former Bundesliga coach was dismissed in January, Courtois announced that he would return to the team for the two Nations League games against Ukraine on March 20 and 23 – the first two matches under Tedesco’s successor Rudi Garcia. Former Wolfsburg goalkeeper Koen Casteels, who had become number one in Courtois’ absence, had reacted irritably to this move and resigned from the national team in turn.
In order to clarify the tense situation, he spoke to the team upon his arrival at the team’s quarters “to make everything clear,” as Courtois explained. “A lot of wrong things were said.” But from now on, he doesn’t want to talk about the past disagreements anymore.
