Real Madrid defender Gabriel Heinze has denied making the comments attributed to him earlier this week in response to remarks made by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

Heinze, who moved to Madrid last summer from United, reportedly hit back at Ferguson for claiming the Spanish giants only signed the Argentinian as a means of luring Cristiano Ronaldo to the Bernabeu.

Heinze was said to have described Ferguson's theory as "a work of absolute fiction" before reportedly going on to say that Portuguese ace Ronaldo would play even better at Madrid than at United.

However, a statement on the Real Madrid website, www.realmadrid.com, read: "Real Madrid defender Gabriel Heinze has denied that he made any of the declarations that have appeared in some of the English media.

"Heinze wants to make it clear that at no point has he made any statement to those media who made these supposed declarations of his."

Real president Ramon calderon has responded, however, laughing off Ferguson's comments and claiming that the Scot was getting on a bit.

He was qutoed by Marca today saying: "I'm not going to waste any time answering him, I admire his record, but he is getting old."