Thibaut Courtois speaks out on mistake against Russia
The Belgian shot-stopper has endured a difficult season for club and country (Picture: Getty)

Thibaut Courtois has hit back at his critics after making another mistake in Belgium’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Russia and insists he remains one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

The 26-year-old has endured a difficult campaign, making a number of errors since joining Real Madrid and immediately losing his place between the sticks to Keylor Navas in Zinedine Zidane’s first match back in charge.

Things didn’t improve while playing for the Belgium national team, gifting Denis Cheryshev an equaliser on Thursday night, though a brace from Eden Hazard spared his blushes.

Courtois kicked the ball straight to Cheryshev who passed into an empty net (Picture: Getty)

But Courtois has played down the error, even claiming the press in Spain are out to ‘kill’ him, and insists it will not affect him in the slightest.


‘I still consider myself one of the best goalkeepers, even though the Spanish press wants to kill me,’ he told reporters.

‘I feel very strong, I’m calm because I train well and play well.’

On the mistake, he continued: ‘[Artem] Dzyuba nudges me and I ran out of strength to clear the ball.

Hazard scored twice after Courtois’ error to secure a 3-1 win for Belgium (Picture: Getty)

‘It was a little mistake, but that’s the goalkeeper’s life. Despite that, afterwards I kept calm and played my game.’

Of the mistake, teammate Hazard quipped: ‘Thibaut watches a lot of videos of my actions and then he tries to copy me. The problem is: he is much taller than me, so it isn’t that easy!’