Article by Sebastian Vasile – published Wednesday, July 2, 2025, 12:56 / Updated Wednesday, 02 July 2025 12:58
Thibaut Courtois (33 years old), Real Madrid's goalkeeper, reacted to the criticisms of the World Club Championship, rejecting the idea that some of the participating teams, including the Brazilian ones, would have no quality.
The World Club Championship is in the final stages, and the competition has shown that anyone can be eliminated. Inter lost with fluminense in the optimum, score 0-2, while Manchester City was eliminated by Al Hilal, 3-4 after extensions.
Thibaut Courtois, vehement reaction: “If you believe in four posts on Twitter, you are wrong”
“If you believe in three or four posts on Twitter who say that the level of the Eo Pctarie … you are wrong”, Said the Belgian goalkeeper, after the victory against Juventus, who qualified the Madrid team in the quarterfinals of the competition.
“We, those who are good at football, know that the Brazilian teams are good, that Al Hilal is a big team, that Monterrey can overcome Dortmund,” said the Germans eliminates the Mexican band from the competition, score 2-1.
“Finally, The level is high and this is seen at every match. We have seen interesting matches and we have to continue to work well to reach the final, ”concluded Thibaut Courtois.
Enzo Maresca: “It's absurd, it's a joke, completely incredible!”
Enzo Maresca (45), Chelsea coach, criticized the protocol on storms which led to stopping the matches at the World Club Championship 2025. “Maybe it is not the right place for such competitions,” he said.
Enzo Maresca has a defeat and a victory so far at Chelsea: 0-2 with Manchester City, 2-0 with overwhelming
“For me, this is not football. Six or seven matches were interrupted here. I think it's absurd, it's a joke. Is completely incredible, something new that it is hard for me to understand. I understand that for safety reasons, the game must be interrupted. But if I interrupt six or seven matches, that means that this is probably not the right place to organize such a competition … Don't understand me wrong. It is a fantastic competition.
It is the World Club Championship, with the best clubs in the world. But six, seven interrupted matches? It is not normal. At a World Championship, how many matches are interrupted? Probably none. At the European Championship? None. There's a problem here. It's a problem for me as a coach. How to keep my players focused two hours inside? While waiting, I talk to the family, eat, play, laugh, how to maintain their concentration? ”Said the Italian.
The sports director of the Dortmund club, Sebastian Kehl, expressed a similar opinion in an interview for the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, criticizing ticket prices, as well as the hours of starting the matches. “If the matches are played at noon or at 3:00 pm, you have to excite people so much as to leave their jobs and come to matches. You have to get free. You can encourage this through reasonable ticket price policy.”
We cannot do anything about the weather. There are climatic changes and affects us all. We need to handle it.
– Nico Kovac, head coach of Borussia Dortmund
What the quarters look like at the World Club Championship
- Fluminense – Al Hilal, July 4, 10:00 pm
- Palmeiras – Chelsea, July 5, 4:00
- PSG – Bayern July 5, 7:00 pm
- Real Madrid – Dortmund, July 5, 11:00 pm
CM Paint of Clubs/Photo: FIFA.com
