We already covered how Chelsea completely and embarrassingly mishandled the Thibaut Courtois concussion, putting him in serious danger by leaving him out on the pitch for 20 minutes.
Now, it appears his country wishes to rush him back out on the pitch.
According to Belgium manager Marc Wilmots, he and the team is expecting Courtois back tomorrow and is looking for him to begin training soon after.
Reminder: this 22-year-old was bleeding from the ears, sent to the hospital, and diagnosed with a concussion just over 24 hours ago. Jose Mourinho and Thibaut’s father both confirmed it.
“Thibaut will undergo an examination Tuesday morning,” Wilmots said Monday morning. “Hopefully he will join Belgium Tuesday night. Of course we must wait for the doctor’s orders, but I expect him to play [this weekend].”
Chelsea has cleared Courtois to play this morning, saying the blood from his ear was just from “a minor cut.” Ok then. Even if it’s true, it still doesn’t excuse the fact he was likely knocked unconscious, woozy when he attempted to stand up, and then diagnosed with a concussion.
Belgium is scheduled to play Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday and Israel on Monday in Euro 2016 qualification.
“I already talked to Thibaut on Sunday,” Wilmots said.”Collaboration with the Chelsea medical team was excellent. An hour after the game I already had the test results. The examination on Tuesday will be done in collaboration with our physicians. I received some positive signals. Thibaut is already feeling much better today.”
You can make your own judgements our assumptions, but after Chelsea already put this young goalkeeping sensation in danger once, it’s hard to believe his country wishes to do the same just days later.
Second Impact Syndrome is a very dangerous situation in which a concussed individual returns to action before fully healed and suffers another blow to the head. It is deadly in many cases.
