Former Chelsea and Atletico Madrid Belgium shot-stopper Thibaut Courtois has accused football governing bodies of prioritizing money over the welfare of players. The Real Madrid goalkeeper said he believes Uefa is rather treating players like “robots” and not humans.
Thibaut Courtois played in both of Belgium’s Nations League games during the current international break. The matches include the semifinals against France and also the third-place game which they lost to Italy on Sunday.
According to the 29-year-old he said: “This game is just a money game, we have to be honest about it,” he told Sky Sports. He also said: “We just play it because for Uefa it is extra money and it is an extra game on TV.”
“OK, for us it’s a good game because it’s against Italy and for Italy it’s a good game because it’s against Belgium, but look how much both teams changed their players – if we had both been in the final there would have been others playing.”
Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku were left out of the game against Italy of which they said the two players had suffered muscular problems after featuring in the semi-final loss to France three days earlier.
Thibaut Courtois stressed that the interval between the semifinals and the finals was too short and Uefa did not consider the players. He worried about the way their games are clustered he pointed at the fact that there will be World Cup new year in November and he fears league games could stretch to that time.
He also complained about the recent news of the football governing body trying to put European Championships and a World Cup every year and if that happens they won’t be tome for the players to rest.
In conclusion, he said: “So in the end top players will get injured all the time and that’s the end of it. It’s something that should be much better and better-taken care of. We’re not robots.”