How Courtois struggles to keep his love life out of his work life
How Thibaut Courtois struggles to keep his love life out of football: Love triangle with De Bruyne, bitter split from pregnant girlfriend and now questions if his marriage to Israeli model sparked Belgium walk-out
- Thibaut Courtois failed to report for Belgium duty after recent clash with Austria
- Reports suggest team-mates believe his marriage played a part in the walk-out
- It would not be the first time the goalkeeper’s love life has affected his career
He may be a safe pair of hands in between the sticks, but off the pitch Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois often lets love trouble spill over into his football career.
Courtois has previous when it comes to the trials and tribulations of romance, and now his shock departure from Belgium’s international camp over the weekend has sparked fresh rumours – with his team-mates reportedly left questioning whether his upcoming wedding with fiancee Mishel Gerzig played a part.
Team-mate Yannick Carrasco slammed the goalkeeper and said older players in Belgium’s dressing room have been ‘disappointed’ with his behaviour.
In light of that rumour, Mail Sport has taken a closer look at the former Chelsea star’s history of struggling to balance love and football.
De Bruyne affair
Whispers of Courtois’ most infamous love saga first surfaced in 2013, when he was accused of having an affair with the partner of Manchester City superstar Kevin De Bruyne – his Belgium team-mate.
Real Madrid’s star goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois walked out of Belgium’s camp last weekend
Courtois’ team-mates reportedly believe his upcoming marriage to fiancee Mishel Gerzig (right) played a part in the walk-out
It’s not the first time the goalkeeper has let love trouble spill onto the pitch, as in 2013 it emerged he had an affair with the partner of Belgium team-mate Kevin De Bruyne (pictured)
Both players were actually on Chelsea’s books at the time, although Courtois first spent three years on loan at Atletico Madrid before finally joining the first-team squad in the summer of 2014.
De Bruyne had left to sign for Wolfsburg in January of that year following two years at Stamford Bridge, one of which was spent on loan at Werder Bremen.
For the best part of a year the story of Courtois and De Bruyne’s fall-out circulated as somewhat of a myth given none of the parties involved, nor anyone close to them, confirmed it.
The pair have faced each other on several occasions as well as sharing a dressing room
But that all changed when De Bruyne did exactly that in his 2014 autobiography ‘Keep it Simple‘.
‘Although I still can not believe what Courtois has done, we continue to work together professionally [for Belgium],’ he wrote.
‘The coach asked me if he should leave the team. I do not think I had the right to say that he can not play for the national team anymore because he did something wrong.
‘Of course, he remains a good goalkeeper. So I said he could stay.’
Understandably, Courtois was instantly painted as the villain of the piece, as a stereotypical footballer unfazed by friendships in the dressing room and more so on success in the bedroom.
However, it was not long until the story took another twist – and out of De Bruyne’s favour.
Both men came out of the scandal scathed when the girl at the centre of the love triangle – Caroline Lijnen – gave her side of the story.
Lijnen, who spent three years with De Bruyne, claimed in an interview with Belgian publication Story Magazine that, in the summer of 2012, the midfielder initially revealed he had cheated on her with one of her best friends shortly before Courtois entered the picture.
After giving De Bruyne a second chance, the former tennis player headed off on a trip to Madrid later that year. It was there where she met then-Atletico ace Courtois.
‘Kevin cheated on me,’ Lijnen alleged. ‘I did not say anything for months because I couldn’t say anything, as Kevin’s parents said they would take legal action if I gave my story. I was under pressure and I could not have contact with Kevin.
‘I respected everything. But in his book Keep it Simple, Kevin wrote a passage about my affair with Thibaut. So, I decided to remain silent no longer.
‘In the summer of 2012, Kevin told me that he had an affair with my old best friend. I gave him the choice: her or me. I was ready to give him another chance, but our relationship was never the same afterwards.
Caroline Lijnen – who spent three years with De Bruyne – later claimed the midfielder had initially cheated on her with one of her best friends
Lijnen also claimed Courtois, who was playing for Atletico Madrid at the time (pictured), offered her what she ‘had not received during a three-year relationship with Kevin’
‘[I then went to Madrid, and even] Kevin thought that this trip was a good idea. I asked him beforehand. But then something happened that should never have happened.
‘That evening, Thibaut offered me what I had not received during a three-year relationship with Kevin. With Thibaut, I could talk about anything and everything and he had even prepared me a delicious meal. Kevin never did it for me.
‘Kevin had deceived me and I thought “Why shouldn’t I do that too?”‘
While they never played together for Chelsea, De Bruyne and Courtois have gone on to share a dressing room for years at Belgium after the midfielder’s admission that he felt no way inclined to dump his team-mate out of the national side.
The pair have been to numerous World Cup and European Championship tournaments as part of the same squad, and both as integral members of Belgium’s starting XI. They have also come up against one another at club level on several occasions.
De Bruyne has even managed to get one over on his old love rival twice in the last three years by scoring two goals past the Madrid goalkeeper in the Champions League for Manchester City.
De Bruyne got one over on Courtois twice in the last three years by scoring two goals against him in the Champions League for Manchester City (pictured scoring in February 2020)
Courtois has never spoken out on the love triangle.
Back in 2014, Belgium press officer Stefan van Loock said: ‘We don’t deny that there have been private problems between Thibaut Courtois and Kevin De Bruyne.
‘But I’ve talked to both of them and they both confirm this case is closed for them.
‘They have finished the quarrel. The guys talk again to each other and they even make jokes again.’
Split triggers Blues exit
While there was no suggestion of foul play involved here, the end of Courtois’ successful four-year stay at Chelsea in 2018 was essentially a knock-on effect of his split with pregnant girlfriend Marta Dominguez.
Almost 18 months earlier, the Blues shot-stopper confirmed he and Dominguez had gone their separate ways after a number of years together.
The pair, who already had one child together with another on the way, first met during Courtois’ loan spell at Atletico, with Dominguez later packing up to move with him to London when Jose Mourinho brought him into the first-team fold at Stamford Bridge in 2014.
Courtois’ split with Marta Dominguez in September 2016 effectively ended his time at Chelsea
The Belgian had won two Premier League titles at Stamford Bridge and was a crucial player
In a statement released in April 2017, Courtois announced they had split up in September of the previous year. As a result, Dominguez moved back to Madrid with their two-year-old daughter, Adriana, and the unborn baby.
The statement read: ‘My girlfriend Marta and I are no longer together. Since the beginning of September, we have decided to end our relationship, on amicable terms.
‘We both went our own way, even though she was already expecting our second child. She moved to Madrid, I stayed in London.
‘We still love each other and we get along very well, but we don’t have a romantic relationship anymore.
‘But we don’t run away for our responsibilities. We are first and foremost parents of a beautiful princess, Adriana, and our about to be born son, Nicolas.
‘We’ll strive to give our children the love and attention they deserve. Marta and I will be still present in each other’s lives, as good friends and the best parents for our two kids.
‘Their luck is our priority. In the meantime we’re looking forward to the birth of our second child.’
But when Courtois split with Dominguez and saw her head back to Madrid, he couldn’t resist a move to the Bernabeu to be with his family in 2018
When the news first broke, Courtois’ split with Dominguez was viewed as a major boost for Chelsea in their bid to keep him at the club.
Talk of a potential move back to Spain had been rife, yet with no Madrid-born girlfriend in the picture would a Chelsea departure be as appealing?
In the end, such a theory couldn’t have proved further from the truth.
Real Madrid came calling as expected, and with two children now living in Spain with Dominguez following the birth of son Nicolas in 2017, Courtois followed his family to the country a year later.
While his intention was family-motivated, Courtois went from hero to zero at Chelsea when he failed to report for training to push through a move to Madrid.
He eventually got his wish, with the Blues accepting a £35m offer from Los Blancos, and from that point onwards the two-time Premier League-winning goalkeeper was seen as an enemy by supporters convinced he had followed the money.
His attempts to convince compatriot Eden Hazard, one of Chelsea’s greatest players of the modern era, to follow him to the Bernabeu hardly helped his cause. Yet after Courtois sealed the move to Real his agent was quick to clarify his reasoning.
‘There has been a misunderstanding that he wanted to get a move for the wrong reasons, but he was pushing to go out of Chelsea because of his child,’ Christophe Henrotay told BBC’s Sportsweek.
Despite not being together, the couple still have two kids in Adriana (left), 10, and Nicolas (bottom right), 6
Courtois has lived in the same city as his family since completing his £35m move to Madrid
‘If the family were in London it would have been totally different. He would have stayed, there is no reason to leave a club like Chelsea, he could have won trophies.
‘Unfortunately his kids are living with the mother in Madrid.
‘He had the contract and it depended on Chelsea, but running close to the end of his contract, Chelsea had an interest to find a deal with Madrid, which they did.
‘It is personal reasons so we have to respect this. Chelsea understood the situation and really helped to get the deal.
‘They did a really quick and easy deal together, understanding the humanity of the situation. It is not doing something against their fans it is about getting the best of a situation that is not ideal.’
Chelsea replaced Courtois that summer with £72million Kepa Arrizabalaga, who has never gone on to justify his hefty price-tag.
Their former goalkeeper, meanwhile, perhaps now stakes a claim as the best on the planet, still Real’s No 1.
What could have been for Courtois at the Bridge had he not split with Dominguez…
Had he not split with Dominguez, the shot-stopper could still remain a Chelsea player today
Belgium fall-out
Now Courtois had added another chapter to his love-rocks-football story following his early exit from Belgium’s national camp over the weekend.
After playing a part in their 1-1 draw with Austria on Saturday, the Madrid man rocked Belgium by failing to show up for duty two days later.
Reports on Monday claimed he left the Belgium camp on Sunday because he was furious that Romelu Lukaku had been made captain instead of him for the match with Austria.
In the absence of usual skipper De Bruyne, Lukaku led the Red Devils out on Saturday with Courtois passed over for the role in a pre-planned move by manager Domenico Tedesco. Instead, the goalkeeper was set to be captain against Estonia.
But Courtois insisted he was absent because of a knee injury as Belgium prepared to played Estonia on Tuesday night.
That was before other reports in Belgium said the player’s behaviour is in fact linked to his marriage to Israeli supermodel Gerzig in the south of France next week, according to his team-mates.
Now it has been alleged that Courtois left Belgium duty because of Gerzig (right)
However, Courtois took exception to the decision and was not present when the squad gathered at their hotel to begin preparations for their next Euro 2024 qualifier, according to Het Nieuwsblad, which he now looks set to miss.
But now the same Dutch news outlet have released more details on the saga, which claimed Courtois was unable to be talked around in a late-night phone call – which lasted until 4am – by Tedesco, and that his team-mates believe his marriage next week could be playing a part in his walk-out.
Courtois is due to marry Gerzig next week in what will be a two-day party with more than 300 guests set to attend his special day.
Het Nieuwsblad are reporting that he was given extra time off last Monday to arrange something for his wedding.
The Belgium players were also given Sunday morning off following the draw with Austria to spend with friends and family before reporting back to Tubize on the evening, which Courtois failed to turn up for.
This led to manager Domenico Tedesco and Belgium FA chief Frank Vercauteren to try and smooth the matter over with Courtois in the early hours of Monday morning.
‘Thibaut Courtois is very important to us,’ Tedesco said on Saturday night. ‘I can’t tell you how much I appreciate him. On Saturday I had a conversation with Romelu and Thibaut about the captaincy. Against Austria it was Lukaku, against Estonia, Thibaut gets the credit. It is important to us that he feels valued.’
The shot-stopper was recently honoured for his 100th cap, with Gerzig handing him a gift
Speaking on Monday, Tedesco rejected rumours that Courtois was injured, saying: ‘I wish I could say it’s an injury, but I can’t lie.’
However, Tedesco’s claims have infuriated Courtois, who issued a strongly-worded statement on his personal website which refuted the coach’s claims.
‘This afternoon I was surprised to hear the coach’s press conference in which he gave a partial and subjective account of a private conversation we had after the match against Austria,’ wrote Courtois.
‘I want to make it clear that it is not the first time or the last time that I talk to a coach about issues related to a locker room, but it is the first time that someone decides to tell it publicly.
‘I am deeply disappointed with this, but I want to make it clear that the coach’s assessments do not fit with reality.’
And on Monday night, Gerzig even offered her support in two Instagram posts as the row rumbled on.
Domenico Tedesco said in a press conference that Courtois refused to travel for the match due to being ‘offended’ at being overlooked for the captaincy against Austria on Saturday
Courtois sings the national anthem alongside captain Lukaku ahead of the draw with Austria
One showed Courtois’s leg with strapping on his right knee as they travelled on a private jet. The picture was accompanied by the message: ‘The strongest person I know. I am so proud of you.’
A second post on Instagram Stories three hours later featured one of the goalkeeper’s posts in which he explained he was suffering from an injury and included a picture of him with Lukaku singing the national anthem.
Gerzig wrote: ‘No one can take away the legendary player you are, the leader, the fighter.
‘You always put the team and the club in front of you and give 1,000%. Even when you are in pain. You never give up. I’m sorry to hear all the rumours that are spread by people that just waited for the opportunity to put you down or hurt your name.
‘Those people don’t understand that you are the definition of high quality football. A player that plays from the heart and a supporting, stable rock to his team-mates. A true leader, a real legend. And legends never go down. By no one.’
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