It Would Cost Atletico Millions to Play Thibaut Courtois Against Chelsea
The Champions League semi-final draw is on Friday, but in any case, would upstart Atletico Madrid actually prefer to draw neighbours Real Madrid or world-beaters Bayern Munich?
Perhaps.
In the case that Atletico draw Chelsea, they would be faced with the prospect of sitting their stalwart goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, on loan from the Blues, or playing him and paying a heavy price for doing so.
Per AS (Spanish) (via Dirty Tackle), there is a clause in the Belgian man's deal that Atletico would have to pay the West London club €3 million for every appearance he makes against his parent club, so €6 million over two legs.
It's something that the cash-strapped club can't afford to do, which Atletico president Enrique Cerezo confirmed.
While Atletico struggle to get ends to meet, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovic is dropping that kind of coin on booking entire hotels in Israel.
