The Croatian midfielder believes the Portuguese attacker will not be leaving Santiago Bernabeu in the summer, despite rumours circulating that a departure is on the cards

Luka Modric has stressed his belief that Cristiano Ronaldo will remain at Real Madrid, and will not be leaving the club in the next transfer window.

Rumours of Ronaldo’s potential departure this summer first started circulating in September last year when he revealed he was “sad” at the Blancos, though more recently he has insisted those issues are behind him.

“Our conversations are private but I believe that Cristiano Ronaldo will stay, I think he’s very happy here,” Modric told reporters.

“He is one of our best players around and it would be a shame to lose him.”

Modric then reflected on Madrid’s surprising defeat away to Granada last weekend, while also looking ahead to the showdown with Sevilla on Saturday.

“In Granada I did not play well, clearly,” he continued.

“In every game we want to do our best but sometimes, unfortunately, we can not always achieve this. The other teams give their utmost against us so it’s not easy. Still, we are Real Madrid and we have to try and win every game.

“Teams are more motivated when they play against Real Madrid so we need to be at our best if we want to win. When we don’t play at our best, we start to have problems.

“Against Sevilla we will show what we are capable of. Sevilla have played much better since the arrival of [coach] Unai Emery. It will be a good warm-up ahead of the Champions League.”

Modric then revealed how taken back he was after watching a video released by TV3 in Catalunya which depicted the supposed violence demonstrated by players from Real Madrid during Clasicos.

“I’ve seen it on TV and I don’t know what to say. I’ve played in Croatia and England and I have never seen anything like it. It is not journalism and it is unacceptable,” he added.

“It is very difficult to compare normal games with a Clascio. It’s the largest match in the world with great teams and everyone enjoys them. Both teams give it their all, but, I have not noticed anything unusual in the behaviour of the Barcelona players.”