Thibaut Courtois’ tweet on Belgium refusing to pick him for Euro 2024 resurfaces after they concede goal through defensive error vs Slovakia

A tweet by Veteran goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois after he was excluded from Belgium's Euro 2024 squad has resurfaced. The Red Devils have not had the best start to their campaign, losing their opening group game 1-0 against Slovakia on Monday (June 17).

In a tweet posted by Pickx Sports where Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco was quoted saying that he had tried everything to make things work between the team and Thibaut Courtois, the Real Madrid shot-stopper commented with three emojis resembling Pinocchio's enlarged nose. The emoji is used to suggest that someone is lying.

In their first match against Slovakia, Belgium used their new goalkeeper, Koen Casteels, between the bars. The defense was made up of Timothy Castagne, Wout Faes, Zeno Debast, and Yannick Carrasco. Orel Mangala and Amadou Onana orchestrated the midfield, while the attack comprised Kevin De Bruyne, Leandro Trossard, Jeremy Doku, and Romelu Lukaku.

The Belgians conceded a goal as early as the seventh minute via an error near the penalty box by Doku. The Manchester City man mistakenly passed the ball straight to the feet of the approaching Ivan Schranz, who did a quick one-two-one inside the penalty box and was left with a simple tap-in.

Although Belgium tried hard throughout the match and came very close to an equalizer, they fell short in the end to hand Slovakia the all-important three points.

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Why was Thibaut Courtois not chosen for Euro 2024?

Sweden v Belgium: Group F - UEFA EURO 2024 Qualifying Round (Photo by Linnea Rheborg/Getty Images)

Thibaut Courtois wasn't included in Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco's 26-man squad for Euro 2024. Courtois spent the majority of the season out of action because of his ACL tear last year. However, he was back in time for the Euros and even featured in Real Madrid's UCL final win over Borussia Dortmund at the beginning of the month.

There was speculation that Tedesco had excluded Courtois from the squad because of his feud with the Madrid goalkeeper last year over national team captaincy. Tedesco denied Courtois the captaincy on his his 100th appearance for the national team in a Euro 2024 qualifying match.

After the match, Courtois was very vocal about his displeasure with the coach.

The fact that I no longer felt appreciation from the federation and trainer made something explode within me. The coach made no effort to find a solution but simply said he would tell the press everything. He wanted to pressure me not to leave and threaten me,” he told Sporza in an interview published on December 19, 2023.

Euro 2024 will be the first tournament the Red Devils will play without Thibaut Courtois since 2012. In fact, before Monday's encounter against Slovakia, the Real Madrid goalkeeper had played every match in all major international tournaments for Belgium since 2012.