Fede Valverde ends up in the hospital after a new fight in the Madrid locker room

BarcelonaThe Real Madrid dressing room is on fire just days before visiting Barça's ground in a match where Hansi Flick's team can be crowned Liga champions. For the second consecutive day, Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni allegedly fought, to the point that their teammates had to separate them, and the Uruguayan ended up at the Valdebebas Hospital with a craniocerebral trauma that will keep him out of action for two weeks. It all allegedly started when Valverde refused to shake Tchouaméni's hand to make peace, as both had fought during Wednesday's training session, an incident that ended with punches and insults. But Valverde wanted nothing to do with the Frenchman, whom he accused of having explained the first fight to the press. The result was a very tense training session. Back in the dressing room, the two footballers allegedly exchanged more reproaches and fought again. As their teammates were separating them, the Uruguayan allegedly fell, hitting his head. Arbeloa allegedly accompanied him to the hospital, where he received a few stitches on his head.

The club issued a statement explaining that after studying the facts, it has opened a disciplinary file on the two footballers. "The club will inform at the appropriate time of the resolutions of the two files, once the corresponding internal procedures have concluded," the statement added. Sources from the white dressing room, cited by the Madrid-based media, speak of an "especially serious" and "unpleasant" episode. Valverde would have been left dizzy as he suffered a head injury and would have needed a wheelchair to leave for the hospital. All the first-team players and coach Álvaro Arbeloa would have subsequently participated in an emergency meeting with the club's general director, José Ángel Sánchez, to try to curb a build-up of tension that concerns the white club a few days before visiting Barça's ground.

In recent days, the dressing room has been cracking with debates about the commitment of players like Kylian Mbappé, one of the many controversies that Álvaro Arbeloa has to deal with. Some players do not speak to the coach, as is the case with captain Dani Carvajal. And all this, in a context where for the second consecutive season Real Madrid will surely not win any major titles. In recent days, other incidents have occurred that have ended in physical assaults. The first case that came to light was reported by the chain Onda Cero: Antonio Rüdiger slapped Álvaro Carreras. The episode took place in the dressing room, a couple of weeks ago, before the match against Betis. According to various media outlets, Rüdiger had insulted Carreras on other occasions in recent weeks but without resorting to physical violence. The former Benfica player, one of this year's signings, was also caught criticizing Arbeloa's decisions when he left him on the bench in a league match.

Rüdiger, not an isolated case

The incident between Carreras and Rüdiger was acknowledged by the Galician player himself, although he downplayed it, stating that “it was an unimportant matter that has already been resolved”, and added that “the relationship with the whole team is good”. In any case, it is not the first controversy surrounding Rüdiger. Just recently, this season he already tried to assault Diego Rico, in an action where the Getafe player was on the ground and he dropped his knee, also to the ground.

Last season there were two more. In the Copa final, just before the referee blew the final whistle, Rüdiger threw several ice cubes at him from the bench as a sign of disapproval for not calling a foul in his favor. The German footballer was given a six-match ban, which, being a serious punishment, he served in the following league matches. He was also a protagonist in the Champions League. After eliminating Atlético de Madrid in the round of 16, in the penalty shootout Rüdiger addressed the stands where there were Colchoneros fans and celebrated the victory by making a throat-cutting gesture with his hand. UEFA imposed a fine of 40,000 euros on him for “victimizing the basic rules of decent conduct”.