BRUSSELS: Thibaut Courtois is back with Belgium after a 21-month absence and the Red Devils are hoping the Real Madrid goalkeeper’s return will herald the start of a new era for the national team after a lean spell.
Courtois abruptly left the team in June 2023 ahead of a European Championship qualifier after falling out with Belgium’s then-coach, Domenico Tedesco. Their feud, which began over a captaincy dispute and was dubbed “Courtoisgate,” quickly escalated and damaged their relationship beyond repair.
The appointment of Rudi Garcia as the new coach this year paved the way for Courtois’ return. The 32-year-old goalie, who has made 102 appearances for Belgium, was picked for the Nations League playoff doubleheader against Ukraine.
After being away from the group for almost two years, Thibaut met with his Belgium teammates on Monday to settle any possible lingering misunderstanding.
“We’ve put things right, the squad has fully accepted Thibaut’s decision, and now we’ve got our sights set on moving forward, winning both playoff matches and qualifying for the World Cup,” Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans said on Tuesday during a press conference attended by Courtois.
Courtois said he had been in contact with other Belgium internationals over the last two years, but that speaking in front of the group this week to explain himself and clear the air was important.
“I thought it was clear to everyone. But when I got here yesterday, I saw that it wasn’t,” Courtois said. “So it’s nice to be able to speak in front of everyone. Everything is clear, we’re moving forward. Let’s not talk about it anymore from now on.”
Courtois’ comeback does not seem to please everyone, though.
Courtois doesn’t satisfy everyone
Koen Casteels, who was Belgium’s starting ‘keeper at the 2024 European Championship, has made himself unavailable for the national team reportedly because of the circumstances around Courtois’ return to the fold. Casteels also suggested that other players were not enthusiastic about Courtois’ return.
Courtois said he did not know what Casteels was talking about, adding that his fellow ‘keeper was responsible for his decision.
Asked if he had any regrets, Courtois admitted he might have overreacted, but reiterated his claim that Tedesco did not show enough respect. Courtois said he had some physical issues at the time, and that Tedesco never came to check how he felt.
“I had never seen that in my 16-year professional career,” he said. “I know I don’t have the easiest personality, I’m a winner and I speak my mind, so it didn’t help. Things should have been solved within the team.”
Tielemans praised Garcia’s efforts toward team harmony after a controversy “that unfortunately did more harm to our squad than what we wanted.”
Under Garcia’s predecessor, who was hired in February 2023 with the goal of rebooting the Red Devils, Belgium failed and Tedesco was fired after disappointing performances at both Euro 2024, when they lost to France in the round of 16, and the Nations League.
Garcia’s first match in charge is on Thursday against Ukraine, with the mission to keep the Red Devils in League A. Belgium will then start its qualifying for the World Cup in June.
Courtois back and Belgium are looking to turn the page on ‘Courtoisgate’
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Courtois back and Belgium are looking to turn the page on ‘Courtoisgate’
- The appointment of Rudi Garcia as the new coach this year paved the way for Courtois’ return
- The 32-year-old goalie was picked for the Nations League playoff doubleheader against Ukraine
Chelsea’s Jackson must learn from red card, Maresca says
- “Jackson is our nine, the other one is Marc Guiu, who has been injured for three months and is close to being back,” added Maresca
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said forward Nicolas Jackson must learn from his mistakes after his red card in Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Newcastle United left the London side without a striker to lead the line for the final two games of the season.
The 23-year-old was sent off in the 36th minute, following a VAR review, for serious foul play and will miss Chelsea’s home game against Manchester United on Friday and the trip to Nottingham Forest on May 25.
“I didn’t speak to Nico, it’s not the moment. We will speak in the next day. No doubt he has to learn from it, especially at this stage of the season,” Maresca told reporters.
“You have to avoid this kind of thing. You need all your squad available. It happened, and he will be out. Hopefully he can learn for the future.”
With Christopher Nkunku still sidelined with injury and Marc Guiu not yet fully fit, Maresca has a shortage of attacking options for the run-in.
“Jackson is our nine, the other one is Marc Guiu, who has been injured for three months and is close to being back,” added Maresca. “We need to find a different solution.”
Chelsea are fifth, which would be good enough to qualify for next season’s Champions League, but with Aston Villa below them only on goal difference and Nottingham Forest just a point behind, Maresca is feeling the heat.
“My feeling is you need to win both games (to qualify for the Champions League),” he said of their final two fixtures.
India great Virat Kohli retires from test cricket
- Kohli, 36, announces retirement only days after Rohit Sharma stepped down from test cricket as well
- He scored 9,230 runs including 30 centuries and 31 half-centuries at a test batting average of 46.85
NEW DELHI, India: India great Virat Kohli retired from test cricket Monday after playing 123 matches in his glorious 14-year red-ball career.
“As I step away from this format, it’s not easy — but it feels right,” Kohli posted on Instagram. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket. Honestly, I never imagined the journey this format would take me on. It’s tested me, shaped me, and taught me lessons I’ll carry for life.”
The 36-year-old Kohli’s retirement comes only days after Rohit Sharma stepped down from test cricket, taking two senior batters out of selection contention for India’s tour to England.
Kohli scored 9,230 runs including 30 centuries and 31 half-centuries at a test batting average of 46.85. He also led India in 68 test matches and was India’s most successful captain with 40 test wins.
Kohli said the traditions and ebbs and flows of the five-day format were special to him, including “the quiet grind, the long days, the small moments that no one sees but that stay with you forever.”
“I am walking away with a heart full of gratitude — for the game, for the people I shared the field with, and for every single person who made me feel seen along the way,” he wrote. “I will always look back at my test career with a smile. #269, signing off.”
India great Virat Kohli announces retirement from Test cricket
- Batting great Virat Kohli announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket on Monday, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England
NEW DELHI: Batting great Virat Kohli announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket on Monday, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England.
“As I step away from this format, it’s not easy — but it feels right. I’ve given it everything I had, and it’s given me back so much more than I could’ve hoped for,” the 36-year-old Kohli wrote on Instagram.
Kohli, who made his debut in 2011 and scored 30 centuries and 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85 over 123 tests, is expected to remain available for one-day internationals.
The 36-year-old quit Twenty20 Internationals immediately after India won their second 20-overs World Cup trophy in West Indies last year.
"It's been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in test cricket. Honestly, I never imagined the journey this format would take me on," Kohli posted on Instagram.
"It's tested me, shaped me, and taught me lessons I'll carry for life.
"There's something deeply personal about playing in whites. The quiet grind, the long days, the small moments that no one sees but that stay with you forever."
While Kohli's final test wrapped up a 3-1 test series defeat by Australia in January that saw India relinquish the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade, he will be remembered most for his spell as captain between 2014-2022.
Kohli won 40 of his 68 tests in charge of India to become the country's most successful skipper in the format and sits fourth in the list of captains with the most test victories.
Only Graeme Smith (53), Ricky Ponting (48) and Steve Waugh (41) won more tests as captains.
India suffered only 17 defeats with Kohli at the helm as he guided the side to the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in 2021, where they lost to New Zealand.
He was also part of the team that lost the second World Test Championship final to Australia in 2023.
"I'm walking away with a heart full of gratitude - for the game, for the people I shared the field with, and for every single person who made me feel seen along the way," he added.
"I'll always look back at my test career with a smile."
India's next test assignment is a five-match series in England from June 20.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 25 points and leads Thunder past Denver 92-87 to tie series 2-2
- Denver looked poised to put the top-seeded team in the West on the cusp of elimination when Aaron Gordon’s turnaround jumper made it 73-66
DENVER: The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets at their own game Sunday.
The NBA’s youngest team made all the clutch plays in crunch time against an experienced squad teeming with a championship pedigree, knotting the second-round series with a 92-87 win in Game 4.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored nine of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, pulling the top-seeded Thunder from the brink of a 3-1 deficit against a Denver team known for closing out games while winning six of its last seven playoff series — and the two tight games earlier in this series that resumes Tuesday night in Oklahoma City.
About 36 hours after an exhausting overtime Game 3 Friday night, the early Mother’s Day tip-off produced an ugly first half that featured a combined 25 points in the first quarter and ended with OKC up 42-36 at the break.
“Quick turnaround with an early game today, we made an intentional effort to use our depth today and get everybody going,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
Down by eight points early in the fourth quarter, the Thunder used an 11-0 run fueled by reserves Cason Wallace, who had a pair of 3-pointers, and Aaron Wiggins, who added another, to wrest control.
Wallace’s second 3-pointer put Oklahoma City ahead for good at 75-73.
“I really thought the difference in the game was their bench kind of lit a fuse for them,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said. “They made 3s ... pretty incredible in a game where the two teams shoot 21 of 86 from 3.”
Denver looked poised to put the top-seeded team in the West on the cusp of elimination when Aaron Gordon’s turnaround jumper made it 73-66.
This time, however, it was the Thunder who came up big down the stretch and the Nuggets who fumbled away the chance to put OKC in a 3-1 hole. Denver’s many late miscues included a key five-second inbounds violation.
Nikola Jokic had 27 points and 13 rebounds but his three assists were a low for this playoff run and gave him 22 assists to go with 23 turnovers in this second-round series.
Jokic said he never thinks about fatigue so he didn’t blame anything or anyone else for Denver’s 31 percent shooting clip and 34 missed 3s. And Adelman wouldn’t go so far as to say the NBA erred with the early tip-off, either.
“I don’t want to say that,” Adelman said. “I will say that both teams were very tired coming off an unbelievably physical overtime battle late Friday night. ... I mean, both of us had super tired legs, so it was about who’s going to make that final run.”
Not his team, not this time.
“We fought. We stayed the course,” Gilgeous-Alexander said, .”.. and then we closed the game.”
The Thunder simply don’t have Denver’s playoff pedigree but Daigneault said his team is gaining that much-needed experience by the day.
“Every time you take punches and you get back up, you get stronger,” he said. “That’s what we’re preaching to our team. We lost a tough one the other night in overtime. We stood back up today.”
Barca edge Real Madrid in thriller to move to brink of Liga title
- Barcelona battled back to claim a fourth Clasico victory from four meetings this season, showing their dominance over Carlo Ancelotti’s side
BARCELONA: Barcelona mounted a spectacular comeback to beat Real Madrid 4-3 in La Liga on Sunday and move to the brink of the title after overcoming a hat-trick from Kylian Mbappe.
The France striker threatened to haul Madrid back into the title race but Raphinha’s double and goals from Lamine Yamal and Eric Garcia gave Barcelona a seven-point lead on the reigning champions with three matches remaining.
Hansi Flick’s side were knocked out of the Champions League in the semifinals by Inter Milan on Tuesday and risked their season collapsing if they were beaten by Madrid, but they resisted after Mbappe’s early brace.
Barcelona battled back to claim a fourth Clasico victory from four meetings this season, showing their dominance over Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
“We’ve opened up an important gap, it was key to win this game after the Champions League (defeat), the fans have forgotten it and so have we, let’s enjoy this,” Yamal told Movistar.
“It was important to win today to bring the league title closer and it went very well, we’re very happy.”
Real Madrid are set to finish the season without a major trophy.
“We have to defend better, that is quite evident from today’s game, we defended badly and that’s that,” said Ancelotti.
“Mbappe did well... in an attacking sense the team had clear ideas, but we could have defended better.”
Madrid had made the perfect start to what is expected to be the Italian coach’s final Clasico at the helm.
Mbappe earned a penalty when he was scythed down by Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, although the Catalans complained in vain the forward was offside in the build-up.
The striker beat Szczesny, who dived the right way and got his fingers to it, but could not keep it out.
In the 14th minute Mbappe doubled Madrid’s advantage with a lethal finish after Vinicius Junior played him through, with Barcelona complaining again about a perceived foul on Yamal earlier in the move.
It was his 26th La Liga strike, taking him past Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski on 25 at the top of the scoring charts, and his 38th of the season across all competitions, beating Ivan Zamorano’s club record of 37 in a first season with Los Blancos.
Just as they have done on so many occasions this season, Flick’s spirited young Barcelona fought their way back in front with a stirring comeback.
Garcia headed home Ferran Torres’ flick-on from a corner to spark it.
Then Madrid could not stop 17-year-old star Yamal from levelling with a cultured bending effort beyond Courtois after Torres laid the ball off to him.
Two minutes later, Raphinha drilled Barca ahead, with Pedri threading him through.
Mbappe thought he had won another penalty when he fell under pressure from Frenkie de Jong but VAR revealed an offside in the build-up.
Moments later, Raphinha netted his second, picking Lucas Vazquez’s pocket on the edge of the area, exchanging passes with Torres and beating Courtois.
Mbappe netted from an offside position before the break, bringing a rollercoaster first half to a close.
Yamal had a goal ruled out for offside early in the second half as Barcelona looked to put their arch-rivals to the sword.
However Vinicius got behind Barca’s high line and he fed Mbappe for his hat-trick.
Barcelona appealed for a penalty when Aurelien Tchouameni blocked Torres’ shot with his arm, but the referee did not give it despite being called to review it by VAR.
Real Madrid substitute Victor Munoz fired high and wide when sent through, and Szczesny denied Mbappe, who had another strike ruled out for offside.
“For me it’s not always fun, sometimes I really suffer a lot,” admitted Flick, who said his team made too many mistakes in defense.
Barcelona thought they had wrapped up their win with a superb Fermin Lopez solo effort but it was harshly disallowed for handball.
Madrid had no time left to fight back though, and Barcelona, who last won the league in 2023, could seal the title as early as Wednesday, should Los Blancos stumble against Mallorca.
If Madrid avoid defeat Barcelona will be champions with a win at Espanyol the next day.
“We’ll seal it on Thursday and that’s all,” said Torres.
