Aurelien Tchouameni opens up on Fede Valverde altercation, denies punch | OneFootball

For the first time, Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni has opened up on his altercation with Fede Valverde at the Valdebebas training ground. The Uruguayan midfielder was taken to hospital after a supposed fight with Tchouameni to have stitches in his head, and both were fined €500k by the club for their indiscipline.

Valverde spoke about the incident for the first time this week, on his arrival to the Uruguay camp ahead of the World Cup. The 27-year-old did not get into detail on the incident, having initially denied that he had been hit by Tchouameni, but instead called it a learning experience for him to ‘grow and mature’.

Tchouameni denies hitting Valverde

Tchouameni has now also spoken about the incident for the first time, explaining that he did not punch Valverde.

“Obviously, things happened, you could see and hear it in the media. 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. I won’t go into more detail,” quoted Diario AS.

“The most important thing is that the club was aware of what happened. There are many things that happen in the dressing 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 are no problems. And if I face him in the World Cup, we’ll be eager to win with the French national team. On a personal level, there are no problems with Valverde right now.”

Real Madrid unconcerned by altercation

Despite handing out such heavy fines, Los Blancos seemed largely unconcerned by the fight itself, but rather the fact that it was leaked to the press. Then manager Alvaro Arbeloa said that ‘what really hurts’ was that somebody went public with the story. Meanwhile President Florentino Perez toed a similar line, noting that the person who leaked it would be losing their job, and that ‘players fight every year’, calling former ‘worse than the fight itself.’