Mourinho denies reports of discord

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has insisted that rumours of dressing-room discord are untrue. The 49-year-old Portuguese slammed the press for speculating that the dropping of Spanish defender Sergio Ramos for Tuesday's UEFA Champions League match with Manchester City was due to a falling-out. "There are no conflicts in the dressing room," said Mourinho, who on Monday had accepted the blame for Real's poor start to their La Liga campaign. Mourinho, whose side claimed a late 3-2 win over City leading to exuberant celebrations by him, laid into the media for not feting young French defender Raphael Varane's performance in the clash after he was preferred to Ramos. "I don't understand," said Mourinho, who, despite his claims that there was nothing amiss with his relations with Ramos, had him training with the replacements on Friday. "You are astonished that Varane was not playing at all before the match, you spoke of his sadness at that. "And then after the match when the 19-year-old 'youngster' performs brilliantly against City you don't speak about it. You have a tendency to speak about those who are not playing which I find incomprehensible." Mourinho was speaking on the eve of Real's trip to Rayo Vallecano, with Los Blancos currently trailing arch-rivals Barcelona, who are at home to Granada on Saturday, by eight points after four matches. FIFA