Real Madrid release statement as Valverde suffers 'brain injury' after alleged fight with teammate

Real Madrid's Fede Valverde was hospitalized on Thursday after training -Credit:M Gracia Jimenez/Soccrates/Getty Images Real Madrid’s chaotic build-up to Sunday’s El Clásico at Camp Nou has taken yet another turn for the worse. On Thursday afternoon, not only did Los Blancos seemingly confirm that an incident did take place between midfielders Fede Valverde and Aurélien Tchouameni , but the club also revealed that the former has sustained a serious injury in the process. While Real kept the specificities of the manner of the widely reported incident close to their chest, it did state, “Real Madrid CF announces that, following the events that took place this morning in the first team training session, it has decided to open disciplinary proceedings against our players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouameni.

Real Madrid star hospitalized after locker room brawl with teammate Jonathan Klinsmann suffers neck fracture as USMNT goalkeeper's agent and club provide updates Madrid confirmed that 'disciplinary proceedings' have been opened into Aurélien Tchouameni and Valverde -Credit:Denis Doyle/Getty Images “The club will announce the resolutions of both cases in due course, once the corresponding internal procedures have been completed. ” This confirms earlier reports that the club planned to open such investigations into the incident and that both players could yet receive severe punishments. Depending on the severity of the allegations and evidence, the player(s) could yet be banned for an extended period or even sold, according to Melchor Ruiz .

The incident in question, as per MARCA , began on Wednesday when Valverde and Tchouameni were involved in an argument at training, before things escalated on Thursday. The Uruguayan is said to have refused to shake his French teammate’s hand ahead of training on Thursday, before launching into accusations that Tchouameni has been leaking details of their prior argument to the media, via AS . Tension continued to build throughout training between the two before it all came to a head in the locker room afterward.

After Tchouameni supposedly attempted to quell the situation, Valverde refused to back down, leading to an altercation. "During the argument, I accidentally hit a table, causing a small cut on my forehead that required a routine visit to the hospital. At no point did my teammate hit me; I didn't hit him either," Valverde clarified in a statement on Friday.