Thibaut Courtois is about to make his comeback for the Belgian national team. Rudi Garcia, Domenico Tedesco’s successor, has publicly announced this.
Thibaut Courtois’ 102 appearances for the national team will soon be joined by more. After a public falling out with Domenico Tedesco, the starting keeper for Champions League winners Real Madrid was temporarily unavailable to his national team.
However, because Tedesco was forced out of his job in mid-January after a negative series in Belgium and his successor Rudi Garcia quickly reached out to Courtois, the 32-year-old is set to make a comeback for the Belgian national team.
“He will be back,” Garcia announced in an interview with L’Equipe: ”That’s good news for the whole of Belgium. I’ve always thought Thibaut was the best goalkeeper in the world, but with Matz Sels and Koen Casteels, we’re also very well covered.”
But the duo around former Wolfsburg man Casteels – now at Al-Qadisiya in Saudi Arabia – will be demoted again when Courtois returns. Belgium face Ukraine twice in the Nations League next month, first on March 20 and then on March 23.
Busy trip to Madrid
At the beginning of his term, Garcia held many talks. These included meetings with Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku, as well as Atletico’s Axel Witsel, who had announced his retirement from the national team in July 2023 and then returned last summer.
“I visited Courtois in Madrid before the Real Madrid v Manchester City game, where I also took the opportunity to meet De Bruyne and Doku the day before the game,” Garcia explained of his busy trip to Spain’s capital. ‘I also saw Axel Witsel in Madrid on the afternoon of the game. I enjoyed talking to him. He’s an intelligent lad. Never say never.’
