Rafael Benitez insists it is not true he tried to teach Cristiano Ronaldo how to take free-kicks while head coach of Real Madrid.

Benitez was in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu for an ill-fated seven months between June 2015 and January 2016 before he was replaced by Zinedine Zidane.

The former Liverpool manager struggled to win over the fans and reportedly had a difficult relationship with some of Madrid's first-team stars, most notably Ronaldo.

Benitez is said to have encouraged the Portugal star to review footage of his own past performances in order to improve and, according to some reports, even attempted to instruct Madrid's record goalscorer how best to shoot from dead-ball situations.

However, Benitez, now coach of Chinese Super League side Dalian Yifang, has offered his side of the story.

"That's a lie. At no time did I tell him how he had to take them," Benitez told Marca.

"The only conversation I had with Cristiano about free-kicks was in Australia, during pre-season. I told him we had analysed, together with my goalkeeper coach, the free-kicks he took when he was at Manchester United and the trajectory of the ball in relation to the position of the wall.

"Our idea then, as Liverpool coaches, was to try to counter their [United's] free-kicks. But that's it. At no time, as coach of Madrid, did I tell CR7 how free-kicks should be taken."

Benitez also denied trying to persuade Luka Modric to stop passing the ball with the outside of his right foot, insisting he merely encouraged the 2018 Ballon d'Or winner to use his instep for short, simple passes.