Courtois defends Donnarumma: "Blaming him is excessive"

Thibaut Courtois has come to the defense of Gianluigi Donnarumma, the PSG goalkeeper and his side's upcoming opponent in the Club World Cup semi-finals, following heavy criticism from Manuel Neuer over the incident that led to a serious injury for Jamal Musiala, insisting it is "excessive" to hold him responsible.

The shocking images of Musiala's injury in Bayern Munich's quarter-final clash with PSG, which saw him suffer a serious injury to his left ankle, prompted criticism of Donnarumma from Neuer.

"It's a situation where you take a certain risk. It was a situation where I don't think it was strictly necessary to go in like that," the German goalkeeper stated, reproaching Donnarumma on the pitch for not even checking on his opponent's condition.

Following Real Madrid's victory over Borussia Dortmund in their match at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Courtois entered the fray between the goalkeepers and sided with Donnarumma.

"Blaming Donnarumma for the injury seems excessive to me because goalkeepers go for the ball, just as strikers don't think about whether they hit us in the face when they go in at our feet," he argued.

"It's very unfortunate that the incident ends like that because he jumps for the ball, and Musiala turns, trapping his foot underneath him. Donnarumma will be devastated because these incidents hurt. It hurts more when it's your teammate, and you're going to criticise, but the incident is unavoidable because the goalkeeper has to come out there," he defended.