Real Madrid’s Valverde hospitalised with head injury after Tchouameni fight

Real’s turbulent season takes another twist on eve of El Clasico with Federico Valverde hurt in dressing room clash.

Real Madrid’s simmering tensions have spilled over ⁠with Federico Valverde and ⁠Frenchman Aurelien Tchouameni involved in a dressing room fight, which resulted in the Uruguayan being taken to hospital with a cut head, several club sources have said.

Real later confirmed that team captain Valverde, who ⁠was subsequently discharged, sustained a head injury and will be sidelined for up to two weeks.

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“Following tests carried out today on our player Fede Valverde by Real Madrid’s medical team, he has been diagnosed with a ⁠head trauma,” the club said in a statement.

“Valverde is at home and in good condition; he will need to rest for between 10 and 14 days, in line with medical protocols for this diagnosis.”

The incident unfolded at the club’s Valdebebas training ground the day after an earlier altercation between the pair.

A Real Madrid spokesperson told the Reuters news agency ‌he would not comment on what happens inside the changing room, but the club later said disciplinary proceedings have been opened against both players.

“Real Madrid announces that, following the incidents that took place this morning during the first team training session, it has decided to open disciplinary proceedings against our players Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni,” a statement said.

“The club will announce the outcomes of both cases in due course, once the relevant internal procedures have been completed.”

Valverde is a key midfielder for Uruguay, which will play in Group H at the World Cup. Uruguay’s first game is against Saudi Arabia on June 15.

The 27-year-old later posted a statement on social media apologising to the club and its supporters, but denied that things got out of hand with a teammate, saying that during “an argument” he had “accidentally knocked over a table”.

There was no reported injury to Tchouameni, a 26-year-old French international.

The gravity of the episode prompted an emergency meeting attended by senior club officials, with no players leaving the training ground for more than an hour.

The aim was to ⁠try to halt an escalation of tensions that has left nerves frayed and the squad divided at a sensitive moment for the team.

The unrest follows another ⁠flashpoint earlier this week when defender Alvaro Carreras acknowledged he had ⁠been involved in a heated argument with a teammate but insisted it was “a one-off incident of no significance that has been resolved” after Spanish media reported an alleged incident between him and the club’s German defender Antonio Ruediger.

Madrid’s season has unravelled on multiple fronts. ‌Manager Xabi Alonso was sacked midway through the campaign, and his successor Alvaro Arbeloa has been unable to prevent the team sliding towards a second successive year without a trophy.

Following a Champions League quarterfinal exit ‌to ‌Bayern Munich, Real trail La Liga leaders Barcelona by 11 points with four matches remaining. The sides meet at the Camp Nou on Sunday in a Clasico that could seal the title for the Catalans.

In a further embarrassment for the Madrid giants, more than 33 million signatures have joined a petition to demand the club’s French international Kylian Mbappe be sold.

The forward, who arrived from Paris Saint-Germain only two summers ago, is recovering from injury, but has been criticised for leaving Spain for an apparent vacation in Italy to continue his rehabilitation.

It is not known whether Mbappe will be fit to return for Sunday’s match at Barcelona.