Thibaut Courtois Claims He Could Have Played Despite Injury vs Spain

It wasn't to be for Belgium as they crashed out of the World Cup, losing 2-1 in a tight game against Spain. The turning point proved to be an injury suffered by Thibaut Courtois, with his replacement, Senne Lammens, making a huge error for the winner. The Spaniards were probably just about the better team across the 90 minutes, but Belgium made things complicated. This was highlighted by their response to Fabian Ruiz's opener, with Charles De Ketelaere making it 1-1 just 11 minutes later. With not much to seperate the teams, Belgium fans will now reflect mournfully on Courtois' quad injury in the second half. He was forced off in the 71st minute, and his replacement, Lammens, made a major mistake. Indeed, the Manchester United goalkeeper could not keep hold of the ball when Pau Cubarsi took aim from distance, and Mikel Merino was on hand to poke home a winner from close range. Courtois Claims He Could Have Stayed on Despite Injury Speaking after the game, Real Madrid star Courtois has made some rather interesting claims. He went down in the game and was then subbed off in tears, as an injury appeared to put an end to his World Cup dream. However, the 34-year-old made an eye-opening comment to the press, suggesting that he could have stayed on the pitch: "I took a goal kick and I felt a lot of pain in my quadriceps. I informed the coaching staff that I felt pain when taking long goal kicks, I had no problem with staying in goal though. In the end the manager decided to take me off, this is no problem as the team goes above everything." It seems somewhat strange that Courtois would say this, but he did jog off the pitch, which backs up his claim that he would cave stayed in goal if needed. Courtois Defends Lammens and Reveals Plan For Future With Belgium Courtois left the pitch in tears, and his immediate reaction to Lammens' error was one of little sympathy, but he has now spoken out on his Belgium teammate, insisting the Man Utd ace has a big future. He told the press: "Senne Lammens is a fantastic goalkeeper with a bright future. This moment will make him stronger." That said, it doesn't sound as though the Real Madrid ace is too keen to give up the number one jersey for Belgium just yet. He has now stated that he wants to take a year off from international football, but has every intention of fighting for his spot ahead of Euro 2028: "I want to rest for a year without any Belgium matches," he explained. "Then I want to play in the EURO qualifiers and the 2028 EURO. I don't know if Belgium will agree to this."