"I didn't argue with Vertonghen, I'm not stupid, he's bigger than me"

The Belgian national team are in poor form and will need all three points against Croatia if they are to reach the last 16 of the World Cup in Qatar. The crisis came after the defeat in the second matchday against Morocco.

There were reports of an alleged dressing room row involving Eden Hazard, De Bruyne and Vertonghen, who were allegedly separated by Lukaku. Then it was added that the players spoke to each other's faces and focused on the final group game.

On Wednesday, the Real Madrid captain and player denied this information at a press conference: "It didn't happen so much after the match against Morocco, you hear a lot of nonsense. We met, we spoke and we focused on preparing for the match against Croatia".

"It was an hour of meeting, we told each other the good things and the bad things, but now we have to move on. We are ready. We have to improve, we didn't live up to the expectations that the public or the pressure from the press put on us. I didn't argue with Vertonghen, I'm not stupid, he's bigger than me. I said to him: 'You're not very quick anymore' and he said he was right.