Thibaut Courtois has refuted suggestions of a falling-out with Keylor Navas, insisting that his Real Madrid teammate instead pushes him to be a better goalkeeper.

The Belgium international joined the European champions from Chelsea in a £35m deal during the summer and has usurped Navas as the club's first-choice stopper.

Reports in Spain hint towards problems between Courtois and the man he has replaced in the Madrid goal, but the 26-year-old claims that their relationship is just fine.

"Every day we train very well, to make it difficult for the coach to choose," he is quoted as saying by Marca. "Madrid have a lot of quality in each position, there is a lot of competition.

"People always believe that because you play and the other doesn't, we're hitting each other! It's not the case, we train with a lot of enthusiasm, we smile and we get along very well."

All four of Navas's appearances for Madrid since the end of August have come in cup competitions.