Carrasco Slams Courtois Over Captaincy Row

Belgian midfielder, Yannick Carrasco has hit out at fellow teammate Thibaut Courtois for shelving his responsibilities with the national team over the decision of the country’s coach to give the captaincy armband to Romelu Lukaku in the absence of Kevin De Bruyne.

Recall that Courtois expressed his deep disappointment with Belgium manager — Domenico Tedesco, yesterday, regarding his statement that opined that he refused to travel with the national team for their Euro 2024 qualifier in Estonia.

Tedesco had announced that Romelu Lukaku would captain the team against Austria, resulting in a 1-1 draw, while Courtois would take over captain duties against Estonia. Tedesco claimed that Courtois left the squad because he was offended by the decision. However, Courtois refuted this, stating that he left the squad due to a knee injury, and criticized Tedesco for providing a biased and subjective account of their private conversation.

Carrasco shared his opinion on the situation via RTBF, saying: “We’ve more or less understood what happened. We had a meeting with the coach, who was clear with us. We, the older players, haven’t yet had the opportunity to speak with Thibaut. But we were disappointed with his reaction.

“At the end of the day, he’s a key member of the team, one of the three captains. An armband is just a detail. You have to show that you’re a leader and a captain with your own personality. He chose to leave. Whether he was embarrassed or not, we don’t know. But one of the reasons he left was also the armband. Now that’s clear.”