Thibaut Courtois looks on as Belgium suffer defeat to Italy. (Picture: Getty)

Thibaut Courtois has been involved in a heated bust-up with Belgium manager Marc Wilmots following their 2-0 defeat to Italy in the Euro 2016 opener.

Belgium, a side hotly tipped to have a strong tournament in France, looked all out of sorts against in Lyon as Antonio Conte’s Italy put on a tactical masterclass against the naive Belgians.

After former Sunderland man Emanuele Giaccherini opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, Belgium failed to muster a response against a stubborn Italian side who doubled their lead when Graziano Pelle finished off a swift counter-attack in the 92nd minute.

Marc Wilmots lhas been critisicsed following their poor performance against Italy. (Picture: Getty)

Following the defeat, Courtois expressed his discontent with Marc Wilmots’ tactical decisions and conceded his Belgian side suffered a ‘tactical defeat’.




‘We were outclassed on all fronts,’ Courtois added in quotes reported by Sportwereld. ‘Tactically, technically and organisationally we came up short.’

Those words irked Wilmots following the defeat and, keen to express his anger, came to blows with his goalkeeper as the two men engaged in a ‘lively discussion’ on the plane back to their training base, according to Bein Sport.

There has yet to be a comment on the situation from Wilmots or the Belgian camp who have Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet as their goalkeeping reserve.