MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Real Madrid’s captains Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos denied yesterday a report that they had demanded the club fire coach Jose Mourinho before next season.

Top sports paper Marca splashed a claim that Casillas and Ramos had given the club management an ultimatum at a meeting on Tuesday, headlined “It’s Mou or us”.

“No kind of ultimatum was ever made by us concerning our coach” at the meeting, the two players said in a statement.

“We want to demonstrate our support for our coach, Jose Mourinho, to whom we owe the utmost respect.”

Marca, a pro-Real daily, said the two players had told club president Florentino Perez that several players were ready to leave the club if Mourinho remained in charge for next season.

Perez, a construction magnate, said he had met with Casillas and Ramos as well as Real Madrid director general Jose Angel Sanchez, but denied the details reported by Marca.

“What was published is simply a lie,” Perez told a news conference at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium. He considered the report was “aimed at destabilising the club”.

He added: “The meeting was to agree on the bonuses to be given players for various competitions. It is completely false that during this meeting we received such an ultimatum.”

Spanish media have been full of reports of a rift in the dressing room between Mourinho and heavyweights such as Casillas and Ramos complaining about his aloof style.

Last week Marca reported that star striker Cristiano Ronaldo clashed with Mourinho after the Portuguese coach criticised his performance in the final minutes of the side’s 2-0 win over Valencia in the first leg of their Spanish Cup quarter-final tie.

A poll published in the newspaper earlier this month said Real Madrid supporters have also started to lose faith in Mourinho: 54.4 per cent said Mourinho should stay next season and 41.8 per cent said it was time for him to go.

Mourinho was jeered at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium earlier this month after he benched Casillas for two matches in what has seen as an attempt to assert his authority.

Real Madrid won the Spanish league last year, but are lagging in third this season with 40 points, 15 behind their arch-rivals, league leaders Barcelona.