Tchouameni says Real Madrid row with Valverde was never a fight

Aurelien Tchouameni has denied reports that he physically fought Real Madrid team-mate Federico Valverde, but admitted that an “inappropriate” incident did take place inside the club’s dressing room.

The alleged confrontation between the France midfielder and Uruguay international emerged at the end of last season and was said to have contributed to tensions within the Real Madrid squad. Reports at the time claimed the club fined both players after the incident.

During last summer’s election campaign, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez described what happened as a normal occurrence in a dressing room. He said similar incidents took place every year, but that the unusual aspect was that this one became public.

Speaking openly about the matter in an interview with The Bridge, Tchouameni said reports of a fight between him and Valverde were incorrect.

“People talk a lot, but there was no fight between Valverde and me,” he said, in comments published by AS.

“Some things do happen in the dressing room, that is true, but we never fought. In a dressing room, there can be hints and things of that kind, but I did not have a physical fight with Valverde. It is true that something inappropriate happened.”

Tchouameni said the situation was made considerably bigger because of the attention surrounding Real Madrid.

“The only problem with all of this is that we are talking about Real Madrid, where everything is exaggerated, no matter how small it is, and turned into a media story of unbelievable proportions,” he said.

“Something that was not necessarily a problem can become a real crisis.”

The 25-year-old added that the incident was not unusual in professional sport and said he had received several calls from people who were concerned about what had happened.

“Afterwards, everyone called me to check on me, to ask what had happened and whether I was all right,” Tchouameni said. “They wanted to know the details, but at that point you have to be extremely discreet.

“I had to tell them there was nothing going on so I could calm their concerns.”

He also compared the episode with incidents he had seen in a documentary about American football.

“I once watched a documentary about the American football league and saw that these kinds of things happen there quite often,” he said.

Tchouameni insisted that the episode had not damaged his relationship with Valverde and may even have brought them closer.

“If you went into the dressing room today, you would see, as Mourinho said, that the relationship between Valverde and me is good and there is no problem between us,” he said.

“There is no problem between us on the pitch either. Life goes on. In fact, these kinds of things can bring you closer to the other person. We are fine, and there is no problem between us.”