Real Madrid midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni has spoken for the first time about his dressing-room bust-up with teammate Federico Valverde, admitting that “things happened” but insisting that the incident was “blown out of proportion” and that there’s now “no problem” between the pair.
Madrid fined both players €500,000 each after they clashed at the club’s training ground earlier this month, with sources telling ESPN the confrontation came after two days of tension.
Tchouameni is now on international duty with France ahead of the World Cup, while Valverde — who was treated in hospital for a cut on his forehead after the altercation, as well as suffering a concussion — was named in Uruguay’s squad on Sunday.
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“Obviously, things happened, you could see and hear about it in the media,” Tchouameni told journalists at France’s training camp in Clairefontaine on Sunday.
“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.
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“I won’t go into details. 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.”
The clash between Tchouameni and Valverde was one of a number of behind-the-scenes incidents that marred the end to Madrid’s season, including a confrontation between Antonio Rüdiger and Álvaro Carreras which the left-back described as a “one-off, which has been resolved.”
