BRUSSELS — Thibaut Courtois has left Belgium‘s training camp ahead of a qualifying match for next year’s European championships, amid stories in native media that the Real Madrid goalkeeper was pissed off to not be handed the captain’s armband within the earlier sport.
The Belgian federation confirmed to The Associated Press that Courtois had left the camp and would miss Tuesday’s match in Estonia, however didn’t give a motive for his departure.
Belgian media reported on Monday that Courtois, who performed in Belgium‘s 1-1 draw against Austria on Saturday, was disappointed with coach Domenico Tedesco’s dealing with of the captaincy.
In the absence of Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, who missed the match towards Austria after choosing up an damage within the Champions League ultimate, Tedesco had given the captaincy duties to striker Romelu Lukaku, who responded by scoring Belgium‘s equalizer.
The Het Nieuwsblad newspaper reported that Courtois – who has performed 102 matches for the Red Devils – was vexed by the choice and didn’t present up when gamers gathered again on the group’s lodge to organize for the Estonia sport.
Tedesco had introduced Saturday that it could be Courtois‘ flip to put on the armband towards Estonia. Strasbourg goalkeeper Matz Sels is now anticipated to interchange Courtois in objective.
Austria has a three-point lead over Belgium, which has one match in hand in Group F. While Belgium travels to Estonia, Austria hosts Sweden.
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