Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni has denied reports that he engaged in a physical fight with teammate Federico Valverde, insisting that the dressing room incident was exaggerated by the media.
The French international addressed the controversy surrounding the reported altercation in May, which left Valverde requiring hospital treatment for a head injury.
Real Madrid subsequently fined both players €500,000 following disciplinary proceedings, while club president Florentino Perez expressed frustration over the leak of the incident to the press.
Speaking on The Bridge, Tchouameni rejected claims that he had fought with the Uruguayan midfielder.
“I want to clear things up. There was no fight between us. Yes, it’s true that things happen in the changing room, but we never had a fight,” he said.
Although he acknowledged that an unpleasant incident had occurred, Tchouameni insisted that the situation did not escalate into a physical confrontation between the players.
“In a changing room there are little scuffles and things like that, but I never came to blows with Valverde.
“It’s true that there was something unpleasant happened,” he said.
The 26-year-old blamed the intense media scrutiny that comes with playing for Real Madrid for turning the incident into a major controversy.
“The only problem with all this is that when you’re at Real Madrid, anything – however small – gets blown out of all proportion and becomes media circus.
“Something that wasn’t necessarily a problem ends up becoming one.”
Tchouameni added that the reports prompted calls and messages from concerned family members and friends who wanted to know whether he was all right.
“Afterwards, everyone calls me to find out what was going on and if I was all right… It’s such a minor thing. People messaged me about it,” he said.
The midfielder explained that he had to reassure those around him while remaining discreet about the details of the incident.
He also drew a comparison with a documentary he had watched about the National Football League (NFL).
“They want to know what happened, but these days you have to be very discreet.
“To reassure people, I had to tell them that nothing was wrong. I once saw an NFL documentary and these things happen there all the time.”
Despite the controversy, Tchouameni maintained that his relationship with Valverde remained intact, stressing that the incident had not created lasting problems between them.
“If you walk into the dressing room today, as the coach said, you’ll see that Fede and I are fine; there’s no problem between us.
“On the pitch, there’s no problem either – life goes on.
“And in fact, even these things bring you closer to the other person. We’re fine; we don’t have any problems.”
With the dressing room dispute seemingly behind them, Real Madrid are now preparing for their El Clasico meeting with Barcelona on Sunday.
Los Blancos sit third in the league table, six points behind the league leaders and reigning champions, and will look to close the gap at the top with a victory over their rivals.
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