While participating in Ferdinand's podcast, Courtois talked about the issue of racism on the pitch and said there should be zero tolerance for this issue.

"I love the atmosphere on the pitch and I love the confrontation, but if you hear what we have to hear in some of the pitches... it's unbelievable," Courtois said.

"Sometimes things get too much, and I don't mean this like the NBA where a player can say 'You have to leave because you said this to me.'"

"But we have to have zero tolerance for racism and I think sometimes we could have reacted stronger on the pitch, like in Valencia."

Ferdinand asked: "Like leaving the stadium?" Courtois added: "Yes, like leaving. I understand that not the whole stadium has problems, but if as a club you have to suddenly close part of the stadium, the impact will be very big.

"We missed him a lot when Vinicius was not there, he was great in one-on-ones, very strong, incredibly fast, had a great shot with both feet and just generally a very good player.

"After what he's been through, because it's not easy for him to go to every stadium. If you go to our away games, from the first minute there are people booing him, shouting, trying to make him lose his composure, but I think he has learned to deal with it.

"Just like Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi used to have to do because smart defenders would always try to disrupt them, Diego Costa is the opposite, he is always trying to disrupt defenders on the pitch.