Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has hit out at Gareth Bale's agent after he accused their stars of not passing to the world's most expensive player.
Bale was singled out for criticism after last week's 2-1 defeat in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal at Juventus.
Many pundits repeated a statistic that the €100 million galactico had touched the ball less times during the game than Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
This led the Wales international's agent Jonathan Barnett to defend his client, and claim that the real problem was that Bale's teammates do not give him the ball enough.
Ahead of Wednesday's second leg at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Ancelotti told his pregame news conference that everyone was happy with Bale's displays this year, and advised those outside the camp against talking about things they were not informed about.
"Bale has had a good season," Ancelotti insisted. "Last year he scored goals in important moments, in the finals he had. It could be that, with good luck, he will have the same chance again this year to do the same.
"This is a world where lots of people talk, and sometimes they talk too much. Bale's agent has never come to see any of our training sessions, does not know our atmosphere.
"Bale is delighted to be here, he has never had a problem with a teammate, and no teammate has ever had a problem with Bale. [Barnett] talked too much, it would have been better to stay quiet."
Ancelotti said Madrid's players are determined to turn the tie around, and become the first team in the Champions League era to defend the trophy.
"I see the team very focused, very motivated, very excited about playing a great semifinal, to have the chance to play another final in this competition," he said. "It is an important moment in the season, we are very close to playing another final, enter the history of this competition.
"No team has won two [consecutive] finals, we know statistics are not with us, but we are looking forward to doing everything possible to win."
Madrid have conceded twice in four of their last five games, and appear to have lost any chance of beating Barcelona to the Liga crown after last Saturday's 2-2 draw at home to Valencia.
Ancelotti said his team were not playing badly at the moment, but would need to up their intensity and concentration if they were to overcome Juventus on Wednesday night.
"In the last games, against Valencia and Sevilla, the team has played well," he said. "We lacked a bit of concentration in small details, and we paid a lot for that. We must not repeat that tomorrow, be very focused to avoid problems. Then to play with more intensity than we did in the first leg."
The Italian coach said that centre-forward Karim Benzema was fully recovered from a knee problem, but he was not sure if the France international or Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez would start up front.
"Benzema is fine, he is available, 100 percent," Ancelotti said. "He is ready, has recovered well from his problem, but has not played for a month. So that is the doubt I have, whether to put him in from the start, to use his quality for the start. Or to put him in later, as in the second half the rhythm of the game is a bit lower.
"Chicharito brings us depth to our play, he attacks very well behind the defence. Benzema is not a typical forward, just to score, he has quality to help other players play better."
Ancelotti would not rule out the possibility of again playing defender Sergio Ramos in midfield, even though the experiment appeared to fail during the first leg in Turin. "I do not rule that out," he said when asked about the issue. "It is a possibility."
The Madrid coach was firmer when asked about whistles for long-serving club captain Casillas, which were again around the Bernabeu during the draw with Valencia.
"As I have said many times, everyone feels it when a coach is whistled, or a player," he said. "But Casillas has a lot of experience, he is used to it, so this will not affect him. It will motivate him more, I believe. The same as with Cristiano Ronaldo [a few weeks ago].
"There are times when it can be understood, as the team did not play well. There are times when it cannot be understood. But tomorrow will be different, all madridismo understand how important this game is.
"We have had many situations when the fans were huge for us -- against Atletico [Madrid], last year against Bayern [Munich]. Tomorrow will be the same again."