Courtois Off at 71: Quadriceps Pain Ended Belgium's Run

Thibaut Courtois left the SoFi Stadium pitch in Inglewood, California in tears on Friday, July 10, 2026. He had played on for several minutes with quadriceps pain, receiving treatment during the second-half hydration break, but was replaced by Senne Lammens in the 71st minute with the match level at 1–1. Seventeen minutes later, Spain were through to the semi-finals, and Belgium were out.

What Courtois Said at Full Time

After the final whistle, Courtois spoke to reporters about the moment he realised something was wrong. "I took a goal kick and I felt a lot of pain in my quadriceps," he said, as reported by Yahoo Sports. "I informed the coaching staff that I felt pain when taking long goal kicks; I had no problem with staying in goal though. In the end, the manager decided to take me off this is no problem, as the team goes above everything."

His account pinpoints the trigger the explosive hip extension of a full-length goal kick, not a collision or a save. Coach Rudi Garcia assessed him through the hydration stoppage, and the decision was made. By the time play resumed, Lammens was in goal.

No official scan result, injury grade, or recovery timetable had been released by the Royal Belgian Football Association or Real Madrid by the morning of July 11. What Courtois described himself, quadriceps pain severe enough to prevent him from kicking freely, is the only confirmed detail of the medical picture.

The 88th Minute That Settled It

Pau Cubarsí sent a long-range shot toward the Belgium goal in the 88th minute. Lammens got a hand to it but could not hold on, and the ball spilled back toward the six-yard box. Mikel Merino, who had entered for Dani Olmo two minutes earlier, got to the rebound first and fired in the winner. "Lammens has been thrown on late in the game and it is the first thing he has really had to do," former England midfielder Danny Murphy said during BBC's live commentary, as reported by Yahoo Sports. "He stops it but doesn't really get it out of danger and Merino is first on the scene."

Spain held on to win 2–1. Merino had done exactly the same job against Portugal in the round of 16, scoring a 91st-minute winner from the bench to put Spain through. Belgium could not find a response in the closing minutes, and Spain advanced to a semi-final against France on July 14 at Dallas Stadium, per the confirmed FIFA bracket.

For Lammens, it was a painful introduction. According to Fox Sports, the 24-year-old was the first goalkeeper other than Courtois to play for Belgium at a World Cup since Geert De Vlieger faced Brazil in 2002.

Lammens: The Man Behind Courtois

Senne Lammens joined Manchester United from Royal Antwerp on September 1, 2025, earning his first senior Belgium cap in November of the same year. His debut Premier League season produced 32 appearances, eight clean sheets, and 79 saves, earning him the league's Transfer of the Season award, per the official Premier League page. The Spain quarter-final was his third appearance at senior international level.

He arrived to the task with real credentials. The problem was he had no time to settle, not one minute of World Cup football before being thrown into a knockout match, 19 minutes from time, with the scores level.

Belgium's Three Injuries in One Week

The Courtois substitution was the third significant fitness blow Belgium absorbed during their World Cup run, and the second that affected the Spain matchday directly.

Youri Tielemans, Belgium's captain and the tournament's most consistent midfielder through five matches, suffered a hamstring injury during the pre-match warm-up, per Reuters. He had missed only the final six minutes of Belgium's 5–1 group-stage win over New Zealand, the only prior occasion he had left the pitch all tournament. Hans Vanaken replaced him in the starting XI, and Kevin De Bruyne took the captain's armband before kick-off.

Three days earlier, midfielder Amadou Onana left the round-of-16 win over the United States in the 21st minute with a knee injury. Belgium's medical staff subsequently confirmed an anterior cruciate ligament rupture, ruling him out for the remainder of the tournament, as Reuters reported on July 7.

Three first-choice players lost across seven days. Belgium still reached the last eight. Against a Spain side that had conceded no goals through its first five tournament matches, it proved decisive.

Courtois's 21 World Cup Appearances

The Spain quarter-final was Courtois's 21st World Cup appearance, second only to Germany's Manuel Neuer, who played 23, per the Associated Press match report and FIFA tournament records. Hugo Lloris, the former France captain, stands on 20. Courtois, born May 11, 1992 and listed by Real Madrid at 2.00 metres, turned 34 nine weeks before the quarter-final. He has made 115 appearances for Belgium in total.

Before the tournament began, he told reporters that retirement from international football after the World Cup was the more likely outcome than continuing. "The chances are greater that I won't continue after this tournament than that I will," he said, as reported by Reuters in June. He also mentioned quadriceps trouble during his spring comeback as one of the recurring physical problems shaping that thinking, a detail that carries more weight given Friday's events.

Across his first five matches at this World Cup, the Associated Press reported he made 10 saves and allowed five goals. Against Spain, he added four more saves before leaving, stopping five attempts on goal, a significant reason Belgium were still in the match at 1–1 when his afternoon ended.

What Remains Unconfirmed

No official statement from the RBFA or Real Madrid had confirmed the exact nature or grade of the injury as of July 11. Courtois said quadriceps, whether that means a strain, a muscle fibre tear, or something else requires medical imaging to establish. Any specific recovery figure published before a clinical assessment is speculation.

Spain face France in their World Cup semi-final on July 14. Courtois, who flew home with his teammates after the quarter-final, will be assessed separately. His retirement decision, already described as probable before the tournament, may now be made without any need for deliberation.