Goalkeepers absolutely hate it when they concede a goal, especially if it is because of a silly mistake by a team-mate. Hence, when Eden Hazard was guilty of showboating in a dangerous area of the pitch, Thibaut Courtois wasn’t happy about it in the least bit.
Speaking to the Mirror, the Chelsea goalkeeper said: 'I was angry with Eden Hazard because he tried a back-heel in a part of the pitch where he shouldn't have
'I absolutely wanted to keep a clean sheet. I yelled to everyone understood that we had to stay sharp. We had little to gain here.’
In the end, Belgium won 6-0 against Gibraltar in what was an incredibly brutal performance from the Red Devils. The former Atletico Madrid goalkeeper was pleased with the performance, while also hinting that Belgium’s reserved approach towards the end of the game was out of respect for the opponents.
'We showed we respected our opponent. We have one and a half more years to improve and be ready for the World Cup,' he said.
Christan Benteke scored within 8 seconds, the first of the three he scored on the night, setting a record for the fastest goal scored in a World Cup Qualifying game. The previous record for the fastest goal in a qualifier match was 8.3 seconds by San Marino’s Davide Gualtieri against England in 1993.
The man who drew Courtois’ ire, Eden Hazard, was also on the scoresheet along with Napoli’s Dries Mertens as Roberto Martinez continued his 100% win record since taking over the Belgium national team.
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With 9 points from 3 games, along with a goal difference of 13, Belgium sit on top of Group H of the World Cup qualifying campaign. They are tied with Greece, who are only second thanks to an inferior goal difference and are closely followed by Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Thibaut Courtois will be hoping to bring his national team form to club level. He has played 7 games for Chelsea so far this season, keeping a clean sheet in only 2 games. With an average of just 1.11 saves per goal, it seems as though the Belgian is suffering from a slight dip in form.
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He has, however, excelled with Belgium as they are yet to concede in the World Cup Qualifying games thus far. One can now understand why he was absolutely outraged at his team-mate; after all, he had a streak to protect.
