LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Thibaut Courtois said he was proud of Belgium’s fabled “Golden Generation” on Friday as their final shot at winning a major title ended in a World Cup quarter-final defeat to Spain.

Courtois was forced to watch from the bench as the sun set on the World Cup careers of veteran teammates such as Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku at the SoFi Stadium.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Courtois, 34, De Bruyne, 35, and Lukaku, 33, were part of the lavishly talented crop of Belgian players who rose to the pinnacle of FIFA’s rankings for multiple years, at different times, over the past decade.

But a gifted player pool that also included Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany and Marouane Fellaini came up short in major tournaments, with their best performance a third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup.

Friday’s agonising 2-1 loss, which followed a blunder by substitute goalkeeper Senne Lammens after Courtois came off injured in the 71st minute, marked a familiar story for Belgium.

“To be a golden generation you have to win some gold and then you can be called that,” one commentator has said of the Red Devils.

But talking to journalists after the loss Courtois was adamant that Belgium’s old guard could look back at their tournament record with pride, pointing out that in several cases, notably the 2018 World Cup and 2021 European Championship, they had been eliminated by the eventual winners.

“In the big tournaments, almost always we have done well,” Courtois said.

“We’re very proud of everything we did till now. Obviously we get a a lot of criticism, like ‘The golden generation never won anything,’ and so on.

“But we are Belgium. We’re not England. We’re not Spain. We’re not France. We are a small country of not even 12 million people that in big tournaments is showing amazing things.

“In 2018 [World Cup] I think we were playing the best football in that tournament. So there are things to be proud of.

“It’s really easy to criticise and say, ‘Yeah, you didn’t win anything.’ But look at all big names in in football. Not everyone has won a big tournament, and we always tried it. I think we can be proud.”

While several members of the team who started on Friday are well into their 30s, Courtois is confident that Belgium will continue to produce young talent into the future.

“We have great youth academies that are working well… there’s young talent coming up, and the guys that are younger now will get stronger the next years.

“And I’m hoping that for the Euros or the next World Cup, we’ll get stronger. I think we have the spirit.”