Real Madrid manager Rafael Benitez has said he is "tired of reading" that he does not talk to Cristiano Ronaldo, saying the pair speak every day.
His comments came after both he and Gareth Bale's agent dismissed reports of tension between Ronaldo and Bale, and he told ESradio programme El Primer Palo, in quotes translated by AS, that there was nothing wrong with the atmosphere in the Real dressing room.
"For Madrid fans, I would say that they should be in no doubt that the atmosphere in the Real Madrid squad is as good as or better than any other dressing room I have been in," Benitez said. "They are very competitive.
"I am tired of reading that I don't talk to Cristiano. I talk to Cristiano every day. And we talk in a normal way, about football, about the team, a little bit of everything -- the normal things you talk to a footballer about."
He hit out at sections of the media in Spain, saying that in many cases they published stories about the club "that are not true."
"There are some journalists who, for whatever reason, have interests that are different than the interests of Real Madrid," he added.
"And in many cases, they publish stories that are not true. It hurts me a lot when I see the Real Madrid squad being criticised, or the medical team, the staff, the club, over things that are not true.
"Out of respect, and in order not to create any controversy, we sometimes don't respond to everything that we know isn't true, but on occasion you have to say: 'Gentlemen, this is not the case.'"
Benitez said he was keen to protect his players when they returned from international duty, and that he would be the one who decided whether they were ready to make rapid returns to club action.
"I had a good chat with him [Ronaldo] about resting if Portugal qualified for the Euros," he added.
"When players go away with their national teams it's the manager who has to decide when they come back what shape they're in.
"The players will always tell you when you ask that they are fine, there's no problem and they want to play."
Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema is expected to be sidelined for three weeks after tests on Saturday revealed the France international has suffered a muscle injury to his left leg.
Benzema was injured during Les Bleus' 4-0 friendly win over Armenia in Nice on Oct. 8 and returned to Spain to undergo further examination.
Benitez said Real needed to manager the striker carefully, adding: "I told him: 'Karim, you have to think a little because this, this and this happened. When I have substituted you and why.'
"What we want to do is to protect a player who is fundamental for us. That's why we look after him. Because we know last year he had the same injury and he had some problems in preseason."