Courtois' sister poses with a captain's armband during brother's wedding

Thibaut Courtois' sister - Valerie - has been seen wearing a captain's armband in a social media post, just a week after her brother was embroiled in captaincy drama.

Earlier this month, Courtois reportedly failed to arrive for Belgium duty after Romelu Lukaku was named captain ahead of him for their draw with Austria.

In the absence of usual skipper Kevin De Bruyne, Lukaku led the Red Devils with Courtois passed over for the role in a pre-planned move by head coach Domenico Tedesco. Instead, the goalkeeper was set to be captain against Estonia.

However, Courtois took exception to the decision and was not present when the squad gathered at their hotel to begin preparations for their next Euro 2024 qualifier.

Now, the drama has taken another turn after Courtois' sister was seen wearing a captain's armband and posing for a picture.

On Tuesday, pictures of Valerie Courtois began circulating on Twitter that showed the player's sister wearing the captain's armband.

She had been attending her brother's wedding ceremony when the incident occurred, before it later got shared to social media.

Reports, which emerged last week, suggested that Courtois marriage to Mishel Gerzig was linked to his erratic behaviour and walk-out from the national team.

Het Nieuwsblad claimed that the Real Madrid goalkeeper was given extra time off two weeks ago to arrange something for his wedding.

The Belgium players were also given the Sunday morning off - following the draw with Austria - to spend with friends and family before reporting back to Tubize on the evening which Courtois failed to turn up for.

This led to Tedesco and Belgium FA chief Frank Vercauteren to try and smooth the matter over with Courtois in the early hours of Monday morning.

Shortly after their conversation, Tedesco said: 'Thibaut Courtois is very important to us. I can't tell you how much I appreciate him.

'On Saturday I had a conversation with Romelu and Thibaut about the captaincy. Against Austria it was Lukaku, against Estonia, Thibaut gets the credit.

'It is important to us that he feels valued.'

Shortly after the spat, but before their wedding, Courtois' partner took to social media to give her thoughts on the developing situation.

In a post on Instagram Stories, Gerzig wrote: 'No one can take away the legendary player you are, the leader, the fighter.

'You always put the team and the club in front of you eyes and give your 1000%. Even when you are in pain. You never give up.

'I'm sorry to hear all the rumours that are spread by people that just waited for the opportunity to put you down or hurt your name.

'Those people don't understand that you are the definition of high quality football. A player that plays from the heart and a supporting, stable rock to his team-mates.'

Courtois' actions have clearly effected his relationship with his national team-mates, after Yannick Carrasco hit out at the goalkeeper's antics.

'We've more or less understood what happened,' the midfielder told RTBF. 'We had a meeting with the coach, who was clear with us.

'We, the older players, haven't yet had the opportunity to speak with Thibaut. But we were disappointed with his reaction.

'At the end of the day, he's a key member of the team, one of the three captains. An armband is just a detail.'