Real Madrid superstar goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois went down with a left thigh injury, as fans saw him clutching the outside of his upper thigh after making a tough save from Spanish national team star Lamine Yamal with the game still at 1-1 between Belgium and Spain in the World Cup quarterfinals. The hydration break began, and afterwards, Courtois was still trying to play through the pain, but he ws quickly hooked off for Manchester United star Senne Lammens.
As fate would have it, Lammens spilled a ball so badly that even Peter Schmeichel criticized him heavily on the FOX broadcast. The mistake cost Belgium the game, as a tearful Courtois watched from the sidelines.
Real Madrid fans are always afraid of any injury to Courtois, and he's quietly had a couple these last few years since turning 32, once coming back to help Real Madrid win the 2024 Champions League title over Borussia Dortmund after missing almost the entire season injured.
Courtois could have kept playing
The good news is that, per Courtois' own words, the injury wasn't so bad that he could not have actually played through it. Courtois told reporters after the game, via Fabrizio Romano, “I felt a lot of pain in my quadriceps. But I had no problem with staying in goal though, only for long kicks. In the end the manager decided to take me off, this is no problem as the team goes above everything”.
So basically, Belgium manager Rudi Garcia took Thibaut Courtois off as a precaution, and maybe he regrets it, because a Courtois at less than 100 percent probably would have made that save that Senne Lammens flubbed. And did Belgium really need Courtois to be at 100 percent kicking the ball?
Meanwhile, Real Madrid fans will actually be very happy with Belgium and Garcia for taking off the superstar goalkeeper and the country's most important player despite the circumstances of a tie game in a World Cup quarterfinals. Many other teams have risked far worse to star players, such as Argentina with Angel Di Maria from a Madrid perspective, so Madrid will be very happy that Belgium did not toy with the health of their star.
While it is great to hear from Courtois that the injury is not too serious, that does not mean Real Madrid will let their guard down. Courtois is now 34, and they are not going to take any risks with aggravation or future injury. They need Tibo to win trophies.
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