Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has weighed in on the rising tension surrounding El Cl\u00e1sico, claiming that Barcelona youngster Lamine Yamal helped \u201cheat up\u201d the fixture with his remarks ahead of last season\u2019s meetings. Speaking to Partidazo Cope, the Belgian shot-stopper said Bar\u00e7a \u201cnever respected\u201d Real Madrid after their victories and suggested that certain comments from the teenager added extra fire to the rivalry.<\/p>\n
Courtois praised Lamine Yamal\u2019s talent, calling him a \u201cgreat player\u201d who is destined to leave a mark on FC Barcelona\u2019s future. However, he also noted that the youngster\u2019s words before the high-pressure clash created unnecessary spark. \u201cI think he spoke in a certain way ahead of the Cl\u00e1sico, he heated things up a bit,\u201d Courtois said, acknowledging that intense moments can lead to statements that players later regret. \u201cBut that\u2019s what a Cl\u00e1sico is like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the 2023\u201324 campaign, Courtois admitted that Real Madrid needed the added motivation. After suffering four defeats to Barcelona the previous season, Los Blancos were eager to respond. \u201cSometimes we need that atmosphere,\u201d he said. \u201cWe needed that fire from an enemy again\u2026 and we had to go after them because when they won, they did not show us any respect.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has weighed in on the rising tension surrounding El Cl\u00e1sico, claiming that Barcelona youngster Lamine\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":37221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[661,3686,682,1823,3796,564,3738,3764],"class_list":["post-16438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-barcelona","tag-david-ornstein","tag-el-clasico","tag-fabrizio-romano","tag-football","tag-hansi-flick","tag-lamine-yamal","tag-thibault-courtois"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}