“She is the favorite to win the World Cup”

Thibaut Courtois He did not hide the admiration he feels for the spanish national team in the run-up to the quarter-final match of the World. The Belgian goalkeeper, one of the great references of his team, recognized that the team Luis de la Fuente He is the favorite to win the tournament and assured that Belgium He will need to play an almost perfect match if he wants to eliminate Spain and get into the semifinals.

“Spain “She is the favorite, that is clear,” said the goalkeeper of the real Madrid. For Courtois, The status of European champion makes the national team the main candidate for the title along with other great powers. «When you have won the Euro Cup you are one of the favorites. Along with Argentina and France, I think that before the tournament they were the teams that started with the most options and they are showing it,” he explained.

The Belgian international especially highlighted the defensive security of the Spanish team, which has not yet conceded a goal in the championship. «They are playing very well, managing the timing of the matches calmly and they have not yet conceded a goal. That speaks of the security that the entire team transmits and also of Unai Simon», he commented.

For Courtois, that strength forces Belgium to be very effective in the few opportunities it can generate. «The first thing will be to try to score a goal and then try not to concede. We know that they are very dangerous, even from the bench, and we will have to be focused for more than a hundred minutes,” he added.

The goalkeeper also analyzed the tactical keys of the confrontation and explained what he believes could be the way to surprise Spain. In his opinion, the pressure after Luis de la Fuente’s team loses is one of its great strengths, so Belgium will try to take advantage of the spaces left by the defense when it advances meters. «They defend very high and try to recover the ball very quickly. We have to find those spaces behind us because our football is different from theirs,” he said.

One of the proper names of the appearance was Lamine Yamal. Courtois He acknowledged that the Spanish winger will be one of the main threats, although he made it clear that focusing all efforts on him would be a mistake. «Lamine is a star, he has a lot of talent, he is very fast and very difficult to stop. The ideal is to defend very close to him and try to give him two against one when possible,” he explained. However, he immediately issued a warning. «We cannot only think about Lamine because Spain has many virtues. If you only defend one, it can hurt you from any other side,” he warned.

The Belgian also praised other national team players, such as Cucurella, whom he defined as “a great defender” who also contributes a lot in attack, and recalled that the Spanish potential does not reside solely in its wingers. «Spain has a lot of quality in the center of the field and players like Ferran or Mikel also attack the spaces very well. “It is a very complete team,” concluded Courtois who, despite recognizing Spanish favoritism, trusts that Belgium can surprise and continue dreaming of the World Cup.