Madrid [Spain], May 8 : Real Madrid has imposed a heavy financial penalty of EUR500,000 on players Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni after both were involved in an altercation during Thursday's training ahead of the clash against Barcelona on May 11 (Monday).
Notably, the incident between Valverde and Tchouameni followed another similar exchange during Wednesday's training session, escalating tensions within the squad.
The severity of the altercation was such that Federico Valverde was diagnosed with a cranioencephalic trauma and ended up being hospitalised, needing to rest for 10 to 14 days, as confirmed by the statement by the Spanish club yesterday.
Today, the club announced that both players have been imposed with a penalty of EUR500,000.
In a statement, Real Madrid said that Valverde and Tchouameni appeared before the appointed investigator after disciplinary proceedings were opened over recent incidents. During the hearing, both players reportedly expressed full remorse and apologised to each other for what had happened.
"Real Madrid C. F. announces that, following the events that led to the disciplinary proceedings initiated yesterday against our players Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni, both appeared today before the investigator assigned to the case. During their appearance, the players expressed their complete remorse for what happened and apologised to each other," the statement reads.
Both players also apologised to the club, teammates, coaching staff, and fans, and stated that they are willing to accept any disciplinary action Real Madrid decides to impose.
"Furthermore, they extended their apologies to the club, their teammates, the coaching staff, and the fans, and both have made themselves available to Real Madrid to accept whatever sanction the club deems appropriate," the Spanish club added in its statement.
Real Madrid said that the club concluded its internal disciplinary process by fining each player EUR500,000.
"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," the statement concludes.
In an Instagram story, Federico Valverde said a disagreement with Tchouameni during training escalated due to fatigue and frustration, adding that such incidents are usually resolved privately within the squad, but said that someone leaked the matter publicly.
Valverde further explained that another argument took place later, during which he accidentally hit a table and suffered a minor forehead injury that required a hospital visit.
"Yesterday, I had an incident with a teammate stemming from a play during training--a situation where the fatigue of competition and sheer frustration caused everything to be blown out of proportion. In a normal locker room, these things happen; they get settled amongst ourselves and never see the light of day. Evidently, however, there is someone here who is quick to run and tell tales. Today, we had another run-in. During the argument, I accidentally struck a table, sustaining a small cut on my forehead that required a routine visit to the hospital," the midfielder said.
Federico Valverde said that no physical fight between him and Tchouameni took place, and that neither of them struck the other intentionally. He admitted that frustration and exhaustion during a difficult stage of the season led to the argument and expressed deep regret and apology over the incident.
"At no point did my teammate strike me, nor did I strike him--though I understand that for you, it might be easier to believe that we beat the hell out of each other or that it was intentional. But that simply did not happen. I regret that my anger over the situation--my frustration at seeing some of us reaching the end of the season running on fumes, giving every last ounce of ourselves--got the better of me, pushing me to the limit of arguing with a teammate. I am sorry. I am truly sorry, from the bottom of my heart, because this situation hurts me; the difficult moment we are currently going through hurts me," Valverde said further in his Instagram story post.