Real Madrid star Federico Valverde has been taken to hospital after a fight in training with Aurelien Tchouameni.
Alvaro Arbeloa’s side are eleven points adrift of La Liga leaders Barcelona ahead of Sunday’s El Clasico, and a report from The Athletic on Wednesday revealed ‘tensions have risen’ at Real Madrid ahead of this match.
According to the report, there have been multiple ‘flashpoints’ ahead of the Barcelona match, with ex-Chelsea centre-back Antonio Rudiger involved in a ‘heated argument with another first-team player in the dressing rooms at Real Madrid’s training ground in April’ and this was ‘instigated’ by the veteran defender.
Kylian Mbappe is said to have clashed with one of Real Madrid’s coaches. The report claims: ‘Following that, there was another dispute — this time between Mbappe and a member of Real Madrid’s coaching staff — before the trip to play Real Betis on April 24.
‘Mbappe was involved in a flare-up with a coach during a training exercise. Sources said the Frenchman spoke angrily and in insulting terms towards the member of staff, who was acting as an assistant referee on the sidelines of the match and had called him offside.’
And now Marca have revealed that a fight between Tchouameni and Valverde ended with the latter in hospital as several players told the Spanish outlet that the incident was ‘the most serious ever experienced in Valdebebas’.
Speaking to CaughtOffside, Ruairidh Barlow, editor of Football Espana, detailed the latest row in a “volcanic dressing room”.
“The Valverde-Tchouameni tension is not something that we have heard about before this week, but it is symptomatic of a volcanic dressing room right now,” Barlow said.
“In that specific incident, after a fight on Wednesday, Valverde reportedly refused to shake Tchouameni’s hand, which led to another training session of intense tackles, and culminated in the fight.
“More widely, it’s just the latest incident in a number of feuds ongoing. As many as six players are supposedly not talking to manager Alvaro Arbeloa. Dani Ceballos, Raul Asencio and Dani Carvajal have all fallen out with Arbeloa, and the latter’s frustration led to an injury to a youth player after a rash tackle.
“In the past week, we’ve heard about Kylian Mbappe getting angry at a member of the coaching staff, and Antonio Rudiger getting physical with Alvaro Carreras too.
“On the whole, the consensus is that this is the product of a dressing room that has been without leaders for some time, and without a manager to impose authority. With President Florentino Perez backing his stars over managers, and doing little to curb their behaviour himself, the lack of discipline has descended into the chaos we’re seeing this week.”
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