Thibaut Courtois drops honest verdict on Senne Lammens’ costly error | OneFootball

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has shared his honest view on Senne Lammens’ mistake as Belgium were dumped out of the World Cup by Spain.

Howler

Lammens has largely been flawless since making the jump from Royal Antwerp to United last summer.

He made his United debut in October and kept a clean sheet as United beat Sunderland 2-0. He started every game since until the end of the campaign, making crucial saves as the club finished in third place and secured Champions League football after two years.

Lammens was named the Premier League Transfer of the Season after his impressive maiden campaign in England.

He replaced Courtois in the 71st minute of Belgium’s World Cup quarter-final meeting with Spain. This is after Courtois picked up a muscular problem, handing Lammens his debut in the competition.

But it wasn’t one to remember for the United man. He failed to properly latch onto a long-range strike from Pau Cubarsi, spilling it into the path of Mikel Merino, who made no mistake from close range to give Spain the lead in the dying embers of the game.

Lammens cut a visibly dejected figure at the final whistle, yet the immediate response from his fellow players was one of unwavering encouragement and collective support.

Courtois spoke to reporters and backed Lammens to bounce back and learn from the setback.

Courtois’ reaction

The 34-year-old said, “You only get stronger from this. Eventually you cannot say much more to him or give him much more advice.”

“He is a strong guy, strong personality. I’m sure he’ll be fine. You know, he will have some holidays and then regroup in Manchester and have a great season.”

Courtois insisted that he wanted to stay on the pitch but was ultimately overruled by manager Rudi Garcia.

“Obviously, I wanted to continue, but the coach wanted someone 100%. I wanted to try to play maybe five or 10 minutes because I was feeling good. I was making saves, and I was not disturbed to make those saves.”

“So that’s a decision of the coach, and that’s not a problem. Obviously you’re not happy when you have to leave a quarter-final of a World Cup. But yeah, sometimes it is what it is. You can’t change it.”

Lammens will now get a few weeks off to recharge his batteries ahead of a return to United for pre-season.

Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images

online polls

The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social