Aurelien Tchouameni has tried to shut down the Real Madrid dressing-room fight story around Federico Valverde, saying there was no physical altercation and that the episode was blown out of proportion. Speaking on The Bridge, he said the matter was already smaller than the reports made it sound, and that he and Valverde are fine now.

The Bridge interview

"People talk a lot, but there was no fight between Valverde and me," Tchouameni said, quoted by madriduniversal.com. "Things can indeed happen in the locker room, but we never confronted each other."

He added: "It’s true that something unpleasant happened, but the problem is that we’re talking about the team, so any issue, no matter how small, gets blown out of proportion and receives massive media attention." That is the line he has repeated across the different reports, and it is the clearest sign that he wants the story to end there.

The clash is described across the articles as having happened last May, in the final weeks of Real Madrid’s 2025-26 season. Tchouameni also said: "If you walked into the locker room today, as Mourinho said, you’d find that Valverde and I are fine. There is no issue between us at all."

What the wider reports said

The other reporting around the story made it sound far more serious. A Bola and Europa Press said Real Madrid fined both players €500,000 each, and Europa Press also reported that the club opened a disciplinary file against them. Europa Press further said Valverde ended up in hospital with a head injury, although that version has not been independently verified here.

The cleanest read is not that the row never happened, but that Tchouameni is pushing back hard against the version that turned it into a full-blown dressing-room fight. The reporting shows tension, the fine and disciplinary file show the club took it seriously, and Tchouameni’s own words say the relationship is settled.

On the pitch, both players remain central to Real Madrid's season. Tchouameni has made 5 La Liga appearances this season, while Valverde has made 9, and Madrid sit 3rd in La Liga and 4th in the Champions League with 9 points from 3 matches. The row may still be debated outside the club, but inside the squad Tchouameni says the matter is finished.

Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 5 outlets. How we work →