Thibaut Courtois launches scathing attack on LaLiga over plan to host games abroad | OneFootball

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has criticised LaLiga’s plans to hold a league match in the USA in December, labelling it unfair as it “distorts the competition”.

Villarreal’s home match against Barcelona is now set to be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami in December, in what would be the first European league match in history to be staged overseas.

Speaking on the situation ahead of his side’s Champions League tie against Juventus, Courtois launched a scathing criticism of the league, accusing them of doing only “what suits them”.

“This decision distorts the competition. Playing at home is not the same as playing away. In LaLiga, playing away is very difficult, as we saw against Real Sociedad and Getafe. Villarreal away is tough,” explained the 33-year-old.

“It's not fair to change the rules mid-season without consulting us. The NBA has 82 games, and the NFL's owners collectively approve these decisions [to play matches abroad]. Here, La Liga acts unilaterally. It's not the same.”

Players from various teams in the league have staged on-field protests during games last week, with teams standing still for the first 15 seconds of matches. However, the protests themselves were not widely broadcast, and Courtois went on to label the situation as “censorship and manipulation”.

Espanyol and Real Oviedo players stood still for the first 15 seconds of their Friday clash in protest at the Miami game (Getty Images)

He also hit out at La Liga president Javier Tebas, explaining that he is “not surprised” at his actions.

“[He] behaves like no other sports executive I’ve seen. His actions speak volumes,” added the Belgian.

Courtois’ Madrid teammate Dani Carvajal has also criticised the plan, stating that he thinks “it’s a clear manipulation of the competition, which doesn’t allow all LaLiga teams to compete on the same footing”.

Uefa bizarrely approved the decision to move the game – as well as a Serie A fixture between AC Milan vs Como, which is set to take place in Australia – on 6 October, while also labelling the decisions to do so as “regrettable”.

Aleksander Ceferin, president of European football’s governing body, later said that playing matches abroad risks “breaking” the game. Fifa president Gianni Infantino also weighed in on the decision, calling it “a big risk”.

Conversely, Tebas has continuously defended the idea, explaining that it is key to increasing "revenues in the mid-to-long-term", while Barcelona president Joan Laporta is among other figures who have defended the move.