Belgium's first-choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois confirmed today, Tuesday, to the Belgian television station "VRT" that he "will not participate in the UEFA European Championship scheduled for next year, to fully recover from a knee injury." The "Real Madrid" goalkeeper added: "I need to recover completely, so I thought it was best to announce this early." He stated: "If luck is on my side, I might return to matches in May, but I will never be ready for the tournament." He continued: "I can't guard the goal at 80% or 85% performance, so I must leave it to another goalkeeper."