Real Madrid President Florentino Perez and captains Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos have all denied claims made by Marca that several players would leave the club if Jose Mourinho remains coach next season. Marca reported that during a meeting to discuss bonuses with Perez, Real captain Casillas and vice captain Ramos demanded that Mourinho be removed or they and other players would go.

"After the serious incident that happened today I have broken my policy of not speaking about day-to-day matters at the club," Perez said during a press conference on Thursday. "It is totally false that at the dinner held with the captains and the director general an ultimatum about the coach was issued, or anything similar.”

He added: "Nobody called me, not me or anyone who was at that meal, to check the truth of this lie or to get our version. It is very serious. I understand that the departure of someone from the club, the coach or the president, is an objective for someone, but to use a lie to achieve this does not seem ethical to me. I am here to say this very clearly: what was published is simply a lie."

In a joint statement, Casillas and Ramos reiterated that the report was false.  Marca continues to stand by its report and responded by publishing a photo of the SMS messages it received detailing the subject matter of the captains’ meeting with the president.