Carrasco Slams Thibaut Courtois for Leaving Belgium Camp After Lukaku Captaincy Dispute

• Yannick Carrasco has called out Thibaut Courtois for leaving the Belgian national team camp
• The keeper is said to have been upset by the decision to name Romelu Lukaku captain over him
• However, Courtois has insisted that a knee injury kept him out of the second game against Estonia

Belgium's national team winger, Yannick Carrasco, has revealed that the whole squad was disappointed by Thibaut Courtois' decision to leave the national team camp.

The Real Madrid goalkeeper is said to have been offended by head coach, Domenico Tedesco's decision to choose Romelu Lukaku over him as the captain for their clash against Austria last week.

Tedesco opened up on his plan of Lukaku and Courtois sharing the armband, with the latter poised to lead the team out during their game against Estonia on June 20, as reported by GOAL.

However, the keeper failed to report for the journey to Estonia, citing a knee injury. Carrasco has now lifted the lid on how the rest of the squad perceived the 31-year-old's actions.

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"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," said Carrasco in an interview with RTBF.

Nevertheless, the Atletico Madrid winger emphasised the importance of the goalkeeper to the squad as they bid to win silverware at the upcoming Euro 2024 Championships in Germany.

"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."

Courtois' fiancee defends his actions

This comes at a time when Courtois' fiancee, Mishel Gerzig, spoke after news broke of the apparent row between the goalkeeper and Belgium's head coach, Domenico Tedesco, over captaincy duties.

Sports Brief reported that she waded into the apparent captaincy row, launching a fierce defence of Courtois. The Israeli model uploaded two posts on her Instagram stories in the hours that followed.