‘Be Smarter’—Thibaut Courtois Slams Real Madrid Teammate | OneFootball

Thibaut Courtois accused Real Madrid teammate Raúl Asencio of making the “same mistake twice” after the defender got a red card in the FIFA Club World Cup win over Pachuca.

Asencio gave away a costly penalty as Los Blancos opened their Club World Cup campaign with a 1–1 tie against Al Hilal. The young Spaniard followed that up with a dismissal just seven minutes into the Pachuca match, leaving his team a man down for almost the entire game.

Courtois famously doesn’t have a lot of patience and had no problem publicly telling Asencio to learn from it.

“It’s two games and the same mistake twice,” the goalkeeper said to DAZN. “It may be very minor, but we have to be smarter and not make that mistake. He knows it, and there’s no problem. We’re going to fight for him and win without him, and when he comes back, we’ll keep winning.”

Asencio had already come in for criticism for conceding what was seen as an avoidable penalty against Al Hilal, before then pulling and pawing at the back of Pachuca striker Salomón Rondón—outside the box, at least—when the Venezuelan was one-on-one with Courtois.

Raúl Asencio has endured a difficult tournament. / IMAGO/Alexandra Fechete

Strangely, Real Madrid TV used the incident as an opportunity to continue its ongoing tirade against La Liga referees over perceived injustices in recent seasons.

In agreement with the decision to send off Asencio, it was claimed by the club broadcaster that the Club World Cup referees are of a greater standard, similar to those in the Champions League.

“About the refereeing, even though they’ve sent off a Real Madrid player. I thought it was perfect refereeing,” it was said on the channel. “We’re in line with what we usually see in the Champions League. It’s a pleasure to watch a soccer match, I say that with a double meaning or not. Not a single kick, the moment there’s a delicate action, we’ve seen a red card.”

Real Madrid have four points from two Club World Cup games so far and will qualify for the knockout bracket by avoiding defeat to Red Salzburg on Matchday 3 on June 26. Victory in that game would guarantee top spot in the final group standings.

With Asencio suspended, Dean Huijsen is set to be partnered in defense by Antonio Rüdiger, who appeared off the bench against Pachuca for his first minutes since knee surgery in April.