After being ruled out of Real Madrid's upcoming El Clasico match on Sunday, Federico Valverde released a statement clarifying the origin of his injury and pointing out that things were being blown out of proportion. Valverde will be missing the Barcelona game due to a head injury. He allegedly suffered the injury after a fight with teammate Aurelien Tchouameni.
In reaction, the club has begun disciplinary proceedings against both players. But Valverde has stated that nobody hit anyone. According to an official Real Madrid statement, Valverde has been diagnosed with cranioencephalic trauma.
According to reports, Real Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa held an emergency crisis meeting after the incident. The situation is allegedly very tense within the team, with many players not on speaking terms. It is also being said that six first-team players have stopped interacting with Arbeloa, too.
Here is Valverde's full statement-
"Yesterday I had an incident with a teammate as a result of a play during training, where the fatigue of competition and frustration make everything seem bigger.
{{/usCountry}}"Yesterday I had an incident with a teammate as a result of a play during training, where the fatigue of competition and frustration make everything seem bigger.
{{/usCountry}}"In a normal locker room these things can happen and are settled among ourselves without coming to light. Clearly there is someone behind this who quickly spreads the story, added to a season without titles where Madrid is always the center of attention and everything is blown out of proportion.
"Today we once again had a disagreement. During the argument I accidentally hit a table, causing myself a small cut on the forehead that required a routine visit to the hospital.
"At no point has my teammate hit me, and I haven’t done so either, although I understand that for you it’s easier to believe that we beat each other up or that it was intentional, but that did not happen.
"I feel that my anger with the situation, my frustration at seeing that some of us are reaching the end of the season with our last strength, breaking our souls, may have caught up with me to the point of arguing with a teammate.
"I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry because the situation hurts me, the moment we are going through hurts me. Madrid is one of the most important things in my life and I cannot remain indifferent. The result is an accumulation of things that end in a senseless fight, harming my image, leaving room for doubt so that things can be made up, defamed, and extra spice added to an accident, and I have no doubt that whatever friction we may have outside the pitch ceases to exist on it, and if I have to defend him inside a stadium I will be the first.
"I was not going to speak out until the end of the season; we were eliminated from the Champions League and I kept my anger and resentment to myself. We have wasted another year and I was not in a position to make posts on social media when the only face I had to show was on the field, and I feel that I did so. That is why I am the one who is most sorry and saddened to go through this situation that prevents me from playing the next match due to medical decisions, because I always went to the end, to the last consequences, and it hurts me more than anyone not to be able to do so. I am at the disposal of the club and my teammates to cooperate in any decision they see as necessary. Thank you."