Thibaut Courtois has thrown out a sneer at critics from the Netherlands after he qualified for the quarter-finals of the European Championship with Belgium on Sunday evening. The Red Devils knocked defending champions Portugal out of the tournament with a 1-0 victory. “I often hear criticism of our defense and I also heard criticism from the Dutch during an interview. But we are through and they are now out,” Courtois said sporza.
The Real Madrid keeper may be referring to the words of Marco van Basten. The former football player was critical of Belgium’s rear guard during the group stage. In the half-time of the game with Denmark (1-2 win), Van Basten called the team of national coach Roberto Marínez ‘appallingly bad’. “When you see how they play, they’re not focused or there. If you play like that, you don’t have to start talking about tactics, because nothing is right. You really have to give those guys their f*ck at halftime,” said the NOSanalyst.
Belgium qualified for a place in the quarterfinals on Sunday evening. A goal from Thorgan Hazard was enough for a place in the last eight. Belgium will face Italy in the next round. “We are unlucky to be in a half with the top teams, but we do have the quality for it. Let’s hope we can recover everyone for the quarterfinals against Italy,” said Courtois.
The Belgian goalkeeper had a busy evening against Portugal. He got no less than 23 shots on goal, the highest number this European Championship. Teammate Jan Vertonghen praised the performance of the closing post. “Thibaut is the best goalkeeper I’ve played with, a phenomenon,” said the Benfica defender. “We certainly didn’t show our best football. What we did show is that we are a team.”
Kevin De Bruyne was injured after the break, while Eden Hazard also did not finish the game. Vertonghen hopes that the two star players of Belgium quickly recover from their complaints and can be deployed in Munich on Friday. “I saw them laughing in the locker room. Hopefully they’ll be okay, because we’ll need them.” National coach Martínez said afterwards that nothing is clear about the duration of the absence of the two. “Kevin couldn’t turn his ankle well. The field also played a part in this. We will have to wait 48 hours. The same goes for Eden Hazard. With him it’s all about a muscle injury.”
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