Real Madrid have got their man
After months of speculation, Thibaut Courtois completed his move to the European champions earlier this week, bringing to a close a seven-year association with Chelsea.
Clearly, plenty of Chelsea supporters weren’t impressed with the Belgium goalkeeper’s behaviour in the days leading up to the move. Courtois was reported as going AWOL before eventually being spotted in a Tenerife supermarket as he tried to force a move to the Bernabeu.
When the transfer was eventually sealed, his attempts to thank the London club on social media drew thousands of angry responses from their supporters – so much so that Courtois quickly deleted the post.
As it turns out, it’s not just Chelsea fans that are a little annoyed by his move to Real. Fans of the Spanish capital’s other side, Atletico Madrid, have also made their feelings known about Courtois signing for their local rivals.
The 26-year-old spent three years on loan with Atleti between 2011 and 2014 as he waited to inherit Petr Cech’s number one shirt at Stamford Bridge. He won a couple of trophies while with Diego Simeone’s side, and, as pointed out by one prominent Atleti fan-run Twitter account this week, had no issue letting people know what he thought of Real. Despite this, he was seen kissing his new team’s badge during his official unveiling, later explaining that he did so because he’d always wanted to play for them.
https://twitter.com/realftmadrid/status/1027527501315235840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1027527501315235840&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmetro.co.uk%2F2018%2F08%2F09%2Fthibaut-courtois-infuriates-chelsea-fans-kissing-real-madrid-badge-7818986%2F
Although his time at Atleti was only ever temporary and the club have since replaced him with Jan Oblak, it’s clear plenty of their supporters regard his switch to their local rivals as something of a betrayal. Further evidence of this has now come from just outside the club’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium.
As pointed out by a tweet from Ben Hayward, a special plaque to commemorate the time Courtois spent with Atleti has been vandalised by supporters. The word ‘rata’ has been sprayed over it, while other supporters have spat and poured beer on it. As the tweet makes clear, it’s now reached the point where two security guards have been deployed to make sure further vandalism of the plaque doesn’t happen.
Outside the Wanda Metropolitano, the Thibaut Courtois plaque is getting lots of attention. Someone has sprayed 'rata' in graffiti over it, others spit and pour beer. Two security guards stop further vandalism… #Atleti #RealMadrid #AtletiInter pic.twitter.com/VLZImJbpOp
— Ben Hayward (@bghayward) August 11, 2018
