Real Madrid fined Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni €500,000 each after a training-ground altercation that left Valverde injured.
Real Madrid have fined Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni €500,000 each after a training-ground altercation between the midfielders, closing the club’s internal disciplinary process without imposing sporting sanctions.
The punishment comes two days before Madrid’s Clasico at Barcelona, a match Valverde is set to miss while recovering from a head injury. Tchouameni trained Friday and could be available for the game at Camp Nou.
The club said both players took part in its investigation and expressed “complete remorse for what happened and apologised to each other.” Real Madrid said the fines “thereby concludes the internal procedures” opened after the incident.
The fine is equivalent to about $588,000 for each player, or more than $1.1 million combined. Available reports identify Valverde as the player taken to hospital after the clash, though one captured CBC display line described Tchouameni as hospitalized; CBC’s article text and the Al Jazeera report both say Valverde was the player who received hospital treatment.
Valverde sought to play down the episode in a social media post, saying the situation escalated because of competitive strain and frustration. He said he cut his forehead after accidentally hitting a table during the argument and that the injury required a routine hospital visit.
“At no point did my teammate hit me, and I didn’t hit him either,” Valverde wrote.
Al Jazeera, citing Spanish reports, said the players quarrelled during training Wednesday and that the disagreement continued Thursday during and after the session. Those reports said Valverde refused to shake Tchouameni’s hand, later fouled him in training and that the pair then clashed in the dressing room, where the injury occurred.
Real Madrid said Valverde will be out for up to two weeks. The timing is significant for a squad under pressure near the end of the season: Madrid trail Barcelona by 11 points in La Liga, and Barcelona can clinch back-to-back league titles Sunday if they avoid defeat.
The club’s statement leaves the matter closed internally, but Madrid still face the immediate sporting consequence of trying to extend the title race without Valverde available for one of the season’s defining fixtures.
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