Iker Casillas has revealed that his relationship with the Spanish press saw him labelled as the "mole" by Jose Mourinho when they fell out at Real Madrid.
The pair clashed during the Portuguese manager's final year at the Bernabeu.
Casillas was the club's poster boy having played for them for over a decade after coming through the youth ranks.
The Spaniard though insists he did not involve himself in the saga but had to accept he was being portrayed a certain way.
"He accused me of being a friend of the press," Casillas said in a recent Movistar + documentary.
"I know people in the press, how could I not know them? But, it's another thing to filter information.
"People were talking about me, but I kept quiet, I didn't respond and I accepted that I was being seen as the mole."
Mourinho's final year at Los Blancos was filled with controversy off the pitch.
His clash with Casillas saw the goalkeeper dropped while some of the other antics caused a divide in the changing room.
Certain players took issue with his touchline conduct, specifically his incident with Tito Vilanova, which they felt was not in keeping with the club's way of working.
"There was a players' strike in August 2011,” Casillas added.
“As the captain, I spoke to my team-mates and we decided that we weren't going to play which meant the opening games of the season wouldn't go ahead.
"We said a couple of things that neither of us liked and took badly but it was left there. Then came the Super Cup.
“We gave a terrible impression. There were scraps, battles, giving your heart and soul… but the other things (poking Vilanova’s eye) - that was the kind of thing you might see at other clubs - tacky clubs, who need to resort to that sort of thing, and that is not for us."
