Thibaut Courtois has insisted that the Real Madrid dressing room do not talk about Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo joined Madrid from Manchester United in the summer of 2009, scoring a remarkable 450 goals in 438 appearances for the Spanish giants before moving to Juventus ahead of the 2018-19 campaign.

Los Blancos have found it difficult in the post-Ronaldo era. Indeed, despite making the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey and last-16 stage of the Champions League, the team are 10 points adrift of La Liga leaders Barcelona.

Courtois, however, has insisted that the Madrid players do not discuss Ronaldo, who has found the back of the net on 17 occasions in 29 appearances for Juventus this season.

"He is not being talked about in the locker room," Courtois told Het Nieuwsblad. "It is mainly the press that drops his name. There were matches that we lost in which we got 10 chances but did not score.

"At the same time he scores two for Juventus. Then it's easy to talk about him."

Madrid will be looking to continue their strong run of recent form when they host Alaves in La Liga on Sunday night.