Midfielder says news “was blown out of proportion”; Valverde and Tchouameni join up with national teams for World Cup
Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni has played down his recent dressing-room dispute with Federico Valverde, insisting there is “no problem” between the pair despite an altercation that led to both players being fined by the club.
Tchouameni has travelled to France’s training camp ahead of the World Cup and addressed the incident for the first time since he and Valverde clashed at Valdebebas. The confrontation followed two days of tension between the teammates and resulted in Madrid imposing fines totalling a €1m on both players.
Valverde was subsequently treated in hospital for a cut to his forehead and suffered a concussion. However, he has recovered and was called up for Uruguay’s squad on Sunday.
Tchouameni said the episode had been exaggerated because of the attention that surrounds Real Madrid, and he rejected reports that he had physically assaulted his teammate.
“Obviously, things happened, you could see and hear about it in the media,” Tchouameni said. “It was blown out of proportion because it was in the news, and when you play for Real Madrid, that creates a huge reaction.
“A lot of nonsense was said in the press. I read that there was a fight and that I had punched him, which wasn’t the case.”
The dispute was one of several internal incidents that complicated the closing weeks of Madrid’s season and raised questions about egos and player attitude in the dressing room. Despite dismissing outsider conclusions as rumours, Madrid are close to appointing Jose Mourinho as manager next season, a move which seems geared towards keeping players in line.
Although Tchouameni denied the fight, he could not information as to what actually happened.
“I won’t go into details,” the midfielder insisted. “The most important thing is that the club was aware of what happened. There are a lot of things that happen in the locker room that don’t make it into the press. Life goes on.
“Fede and I have a common goal: to win titles with Real Madrid. There’s no problem. On a personal level, there are no problems with Valverde right now.”
