Courtois: Manchester City have ruined the competition, and this is why Mbappé deserves the Ballon d'Or
"My son resembles Mbappé"
Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid's goalkeeper, has picked his candidate for the Ballon d'Or while commenting on the refereeing controversy, Manchester City's conviction, and the Negreira case.
Courtois stayed at Valdebebas during the current international break. The Belgian struck an agreement to rest from his international duties after the World Cup and focus solely on Real Madrid.
Speaking to Onda CeroOnda Cero, the Belgian covered the current situation at the club and plenty more.
On the refereeing controversy, he said: "I don't believe there is any manipulation or anything like that, I'm not that suspicious. There are mistakes that are called on other pitches, but they don't call them in our favour, on the contrary, they call them against us."
He went on: "There are things that make you say... I don't understand, they come to explain things to us, then the following week they do exactly the opposite."
Turning to the Negreira case in which Barcelona stand accused, he explained: "Everyone is waiting for the verdict in the Negreira case, it is a serious matter."
His pick for the Ballon d'Or left little room for doubt: "It has to go to Mbappé; everyone is amazed by his speed and his goals. The Ballon d'Or should be awarded to the best player, not to the one who has won more titles than others. And based on this logic, Carvajal should have won it two years ago."
On the other main contenders, Courtois added: "I really admire Raphinha, he is a very important player for his team, and he scores a lot of goals, perhaps he doesn't get the recognition he deserves. We have to stop him during the Clasico."
Manchester City's conviction drew a pointed response: "What City did in the end is spoil the competition; perhaps they weren't able to sign some of the players they had ..."
He then turned to his family: "My son plays for Real Madrid's youth team, and he is a striker, he is very much like Mbappé; he also likes to play as a goalkeeper, but I prefer that he doesn't, to avoid comparisons."
The goalkeeper closed with a warning: "There are fathers who think their son is the new Cristiano, and they put him under heavy pressure... to the point that some children leave football at the age of sixteen; the boys should enjoy their time on the pitch."
