Belgium boss Roberto Martinez has hit back at suggestions of a rift in the team's camp at the World Cup and appeared to accuse the French media of trying to derail his side's campaign.
French newspaper L'Equipe reported that Kevin de Bruyne, Jan Vertonghen and captain Eden Hazard clashed in the dressing room after Belgium's shock defeat to Morocco on Sunday.
There were reports that Romelu Lukaku had to pull apart his feuding team-mates during an inquest about the 2-0 loss to the African side, which has left the Red Devils' World Cup hopes in the balance.
Martinez has labelled the claims as 'fake news' and hinted the French press had deliberately set out to cause ruptures in their squad in Qatar.
'You've got some outlets in Belgium who are quite happy to jump on fake news, which is quite astonishing,' he said at his press conference on Wednesday.
'It has made the group more aware that the less they listen to the noise from the outside, the better.
'A World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world and there are many World Cups getting played.
'You can see that maybe a country like France did a good job with a story that became the main talking point of the outlets in Belgium.
'It shows that maybe there is more desire to find negative news around this team than get the nation together, support this team, enjoy the talent of the best generation that we've ever had in Belgian football.
'That was a lesson for all of us that we are here on our own. We are here to fight for what we believe is the way we want to play and hopefully the fans - the real fans - of the Red Devils can enjoy the process.'
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had previously denied reports of a bust-up and threatened to end the national career of the person who leaked the information.
According to Walfoot, Courtois said: 'We said things to each other, and sometimes it feels good. I don't think we missed it, but it's one thing to talk to each other at the table or individually or to talk in a group, to solve everything together.
'The problem, it's that what's said in the press isn't always the truth. Whoever leaked this? We don't need to know that. If it gets out, it's his last day in the national team.'
The goalkeeper added: 'There are no problems in the team, it's just an external attempt to create problems internally. Of course, after a defeat, nobody is happy, but it brings us even closer because we know that we will have to give everything on the pitch on Thursday.'
Belgium's Timothy Castagne on Wednesday became the latest member of the team to dismiss claims the squad are in 'crisis' but said there had been frank discussions within the camp in the wake of the defeat to Morocco.
'The first two games were not as good as we hoped. We didn't show everything we are capable of,' Castagne said. 'But we are not in crisis.
'It was important to get things off our chests and share our views. We also shared our ideas about how we can improve.'
Tension in the camp had grown after De Bruyne had bizarrely said Belgium had no chance of winning the World Cup because their team is 'too old'.
Speaking after the Group F loss to Morocco, Vertonghen seemed to reference his team-mates surprise comments.
'We probably also attack badly because we are too old, that must be it now, surely?' Vertonghen said.
'We have a lot of quality up front, but so does Morocco, and they came out better. This is very frustrating.'
De Bruyne has also been slammed by the Belgian press after pictures shared by the country's FA showed the 31-year-old's poor body language before Sunday's game began.
Belgium's Twitter account posted a picture from inside a pre-match huddle prior to the Morocco match, where substitute Lukaku was giving a pre-match team talk to his side.
De Bruyne is the only player not embracing the rest of his team in the image, as he stands with his arms by his side, seemingly motionless as Lukaku speaks.
Further light was shed on the apparent tension by Dries Mertens' wife Kat Kerkhofs, who said a team barbeque held hours after the shock Morocco defeat was 'really awkward'.
Belgium had arrived in Qatar hoping to live up to their 'golden generation' tag by winning the World Cup for the first time in the country's history.
But the defeat to Morocco - and the manner in which they were soundly beaten by the outsiders - has left their hopes in the balance and they are facing a battle to qualify for the last 16.
Belgium will crash out of the tournament if they lose to Croatia in their final group game on Thursday.
The Red Devils will also be eliminated if they draw with Croatia and Morocco avoid defeat in their clash with Canada.
