Valverde, Tchouameni fined €500k each for bust-up
Federico Valverde has acknowledged his role in a clash with Real Madrid team-mate Aurelien Tchouameni that left the Uruguayan requiring a hospital visit last week.
Real Madrid fined Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni €500,000 ($813,130) each after a training-ground fight that left the Uruguay midfielder with a serious head injury.
The sanctions deepened the sense of crisis at a club facing a second successive season without a trophy, with a clash against rival Barcelona looming on Monday (AEST).
The incident, which club sources said took place at Real's Valdebebas training base last week, ended with captain Valverde being taken to hospital with a cut head before he was later discharged.
The club said both players had appeared before the investigator assigned to the case and accepted responsibility.
"During their appearance, the players expressed their complete remorse for what happened and apologised to each other," a club statement read.
"Furthermore, they extended their apologies to the club, their team-mates, the coaching staff, and the fans, and both have made themselves available to Real Madrid to accept whatever sanction the club deems appropriate.
"Under these circumstances, Real Madrid has decided to impose a financial penalty of five hundred thousand euros on each player, thereby concluding the corresponding internal procedures."
Madrid also added that Valverde had been diagnosed with head trauma and would have to rest for 10 to 14 days.
The club confirmed Valverde was "at home and in good condition" after the incident, which unfolded a day after an earlier altercation between the pair.
Valverde posted a statement on social media apologising to the club and supporters, but denied that things had got out of hand with a team-mate and said that during "an argument" he had "accidentally knocked over a table".
"Yesterday, I had an incident with a team-mate during a training session. The fatigue from competition and the frustration made everything seem blown out of proportion," Valverde said.
"In a normal locker room, these things can happen and are usually resolved internally without it becoming all public.
"Clearly, someone here is spreading rumours, and with a season without titles, where Real Madrid is always under scrutiny, everything gets blown out of proportion.
"Today we had another disagreement. 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 team-mate hit me; I didn't hit him either.
"I feel that my anger about the situation, frustration at seeing some of us struggling to get through the end of the season, giving it our all, pushed me to the point of arguing with a team-mate."
The gravity of the episode prompted an emergency meeting attended by senior club officials, with no players leaving the training ground for longer than an hour as Madrid sought to contain an escalation of tensions that has left nerves frayed and the squad divided.
The unrest followed another reported flashpoint involving defender Alvaro Carreras earlier this week, adding to the strain on the squad, and Kylian Mbappe was also said to have been involved in a heated disagreement with a member of Madrid's coaching staff.
These incidents could hardly come at a worse time for Madrid, which goes to Camp Nou on Monday (AEST).
If Barca avoids defeat, it will win LaLiga as a direct result of a Clasico for the first time – the only previous instance of Spanish football's biggest game deciding the title came in 1932, as Madrid beat the Blaugrana to edge out Athletic Club for the crown.
