Carlo Ancelotti was unmoved by reports Paris Saint-Germain have offered to make Real Madrid-linked Kylian Mbappe the highest-paid footballer in the world.
Mbappe was in devastating form against Madrid on Wednesday, scoring PSG's late winner in the Champions League last-16 first leg at the Parc des Princes after generally impressing throughout.
The France star's decisiveness was fitting given overarching narrative of his future, which has put the two clubs into something of a tug-of-war over the past couple of years.
Madrid reportedly made several offers for Mbappe last year but were rebuffed by PSG, who were insistent that they would be able to persuade the striker to stay in Paris.
But then came January 1 and Mbappe still had not signed a new contract, meaning he became eligible to begin discussing moves to foreign clubs.
Many expect he will join Madrid at the end of the season, but in the wake of their 1-0 win over Los Blancos, PSG apparently made it known they would be willing to give Mbappe a basic wage "far in excess of £500,000 [€600,000], and closer to £1m [€1.2m] a week", according to the Independent.
Ancelotti is not convinced that matters, however.
"Everyone has to think what they want," Ancelotti told reporters on Friday ahead of the clash with Deportivo Alaves.
"I have to say, they pay me a lot and so I am privileged, but what I like is not the money I earn, but what I do."
Ancelotti acknowledged in the wake of the defeat in Paris that Madrid were poor, as they struggled to get control of the contest and subsequently found themselves under pressure for much of the game.
They failed to get a single shot on target for only the second time in a Champions League game since Opta records began (2003-04), and their 0.14 expected goals (xG) was their worst in the competition in just under nine years.
He was asked again about the performance and he recognised the best thing about the game was that they only lost 1-0.
"Sometimes it's the little details that decide the matches," he said. "I'm quite honest, we played very badly against PSG in what we normally do well. We had a bad night.
"This doesn't worry me so much because I know the quality and personality the team has for getting out of this.
"The criticism is justified because we did badly. The first critic is myself. The approach has not been good and I have to take responsibility.
"Criticism must be understood and learned from because sometimes it is very helpful. The idea that I don't talk to the players is nonsense.
"I spoke with the president and with the director and we have the same feeling. We are hurt but I think we are honest: we played badly and the image of Real Madrid was not good, which is what hurts the most. The best thing about the game was the result."
Tuesday's match was the sixth game in a row in which Vinicius Junior has failed to score after an extremely bright first half to the season, while Madrid as a team have netted just once in four.
Ancelotti is not concerned about there being a specific issue with Vinicius, however.
"Everything that happens to the team is happening to him, we've dropped off a bit," he added. "But the team is doing well physically.
"Against Villarreal we did well sometimes and against PSG we suffered until the end. Vini has had a very intense month and now he's going to be more effective.
"We have to score more, that's clear. But now Karim [Benzema] is back, he's the main striker, who scores a lot of goals and gets a lot of assists.
"When he's well, he's better. We've had problems but he's fine and he's going to help us fix it."
Australia 0-0 Saudi Arabia: Visitors denied last-gasp winner on Renard's return
Saudi Arabia had a stoppage-time goal ruled out as Herve Renard's first game since returning as Saudi Arabia head coach ended in a 0-0 draw against Australia in World Cup qualifying.
Sultan Al-Ghannam fired through a sea of bodies in the 94th minute of Thursday's Group C contest at AAMI Park, but the celebrations were cut short due to an offside infringement.
Referee Ali Saeed Al Naqbi had earlier irked the home side by awarding a 12th-minute penalty for an Ahmed Al-Kassar challenge on Mitch Duke, which was then overturned.
Replays showed the incident happened just outside the box, but Australia felt the Saudi keeper should have been sent off and not issued just a yellow card.
Joe Gauci pulled off a fine double save later in the first half, albeit the offside flag later went up, but it was Australia who did more to win the game prior to the late drama.
Brandon Borrello was played clean through on goal and opted to square to Riley McGree, who was unable to help the ball past covering defender Saud Abdulhamid in front of goal.
Data Debrief: Another blank for both sides
Australia entered this game without a goal against Saudi Arabia in 2,716 days - a run that will extend for a little while longer after this latest blank.
The Socceroos have failed to score in three of their five third-round qualifying games, while Saudi Arabia have gone three in a row without netting.
Tony Popovic's side will justifiably argue they did more to win the game, though, finishing with an expected goals value (xG) of 1.31 to Saudi Arabia's 0.05, but the teams remain locked on points in Group C.
Carsley focusing on positives after nine England drop-outs
Lee Carsley wants the England players at his disposal to "make the most of the situation" after nine others dropped out through injury.
Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite on Wednesday became latest player to withdraw from the Nations League games with Greece and Republic of Ireland.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale and Levi Colwill have also dropped out.
England captain Harry Kane has admitted to being unhappy with the large number of withdrawals for interim boss Carsley's final two games in charge.
However, Carsley attempted to put a positive spin on the situation when speaking at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday ahead of facing Greece.
"The focus all camp has been on the players that are here and it's important that we make the most of the situation," he told reporters.
"With the amount of players that have pulled out, it gives other players an opportunity to be here.
"We're really looking forward to the game and it's going to be a tough test for us and the focus has been purely on the players that are here.
"With the amount of pull-outs we've had in the window, historically it's been like that in the past - November has always been a challenging window.
"But the culture that Gareth [Southgate], Steve [Holland] and the rest of the lads created has made it a really positive environment and the players that are here thoroughly deserve to be here."
Grealish was one of the first players to withdraw from the squad, having been called up despite not playing for club side Manchester City since 20 October.
City boss Pep Guardiola questioned England's decision to include Grealish in their squad as he recovers from injury, but Carsley insisted he was justified in doing so.
"The medical teams are constantly talking throughout squad selection, regardless of whether there are games or not," Carsley said.
"We are constantly getting updates. The medical departments have brilliant communication between club and country.
"It was always the case we were going to get the players who were potentially going to miss out in to the assessed. Jack was one of them. He was assessed and sent back and it was as clear as that."
England trail Group B2 leaders Greece by three points with two rounds of fixtures to play, having lost the reverse fixture 2-1 at Wembley last month.
The Three Lions have won on all four of their previous trips to face Greece, doing so by an aggregate score of 9-1 - only against Luxembourg (5/5) do they hold a better 100% win rate away from home.
However, Greece are on the longest active winning run of any European nation in all competitions (five games) and could win six consecutive matches for the first time November 2013.
Carsley, who will step aside for Thomas Tuchel after next week's home match with Republic of Ireland, said: "We're expecting a tough game against Greece and it’s one we have to win.
"But we're really looking forward to it, we've had a good week's training, the players are in good spirits and it's going to be a sell out with a great atmosphere.
"We've had to wait four or five weeks for this, but this next window is so important to us, not just tomorrow but Republic of Ireland as well, so it's a great challenge for us."
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
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