Thibaut Courtois was substituted in tears during Belgium’s 2-1 loss to Spain in the World Cup quarter-finals.
The goalkeeper was forced off with what looked to be a thigh injury in his left leg, as he went down requiring treatment midway through the second half at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
The scores were level at the point, with Fabian Ruiz scrambling the Spanish ahead before Charles De Ketalaere nodded the Belgians level just before the break.
But the Red Devils were handed a hammer double blow as Courtois held his left thigh in pain, tried to continue, and was then substituted by manager Rudi Garcia, who turned to Manchester United’s Senne Lammens.
It turned out to be a fatal loss for Belgium, as Lammens spilled Pau Curbarsi’s effort from range, and his fellow substitute Mikel Merino, the Arsenal midfielder, gobbled up the rebound to book the European champions’ place in the last four, where they will face France, who defeated Morocco 2-0 on Thursday.
The Courtois loss already compounded the blow suffered by the Belgians when Youri Tielemans, who was named in the starting XI, was forced to pull out of the match during the warm-up, having tweaked his hamstring.
It was another huge disappointment for both Garcia and Tielemans’ club Aston Villa, who had already seen Amadou Onana rupture his anterior cruciate ligament during the 4-1 victory over the United States in the round of 16.
Real Madrid have already gone a serious squad overhaul this summer following the return of Jose Mourinho as manager, with the likes of Ibrahima Konate, Denzel Dumfries, Marc Cucurella and Bernardo Silva all arriving at the Santiago Bernabeu, while they also had a bid worth €150million turned down for Atletico Madrid’s Argentinian striker Julian Alvarez, formerly of Manchester City.
