Real’s turbulent season took another turn on the eve of El Clasico, with Federico Valverde injured in a clash in the dressing room.
Published May 7, 2026
Smoldering tensions at Real Madrid spilled over after Federico Valverde and Frenchman Aurélien Choameny got into a scuffle in the dressing room, resulting in the Uruguayan being taken to hospital with a severed head, multiple club officials said.
Real confirmed that team captain Valverde, who was later sent off, suffered a head injury and will be sidelined for up to two weeks.
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“As a result of the tests carried out today by the Real Madrid medical team on our player Fede Valverde, he was diagnosed with a head injury,” the club said in a statement.
“Valverde is at home and in good condition. He will require 10 to 14 days of rest according to the medical protocols given his diagnosis.”
The incident took place at the club’s Valdebebas training ground, a day after an earlier altercation between the two.
A Real Madrid spokesperson told Reuters that they would not comment on incidents in the dressing room, but the club later announced that disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against both players.
“Real Madrid would like to announce this morning that it has decided to initiate disciplinary proceedings against our players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Choameny following an incident that occurred during first-team training,” the club said in a statement.
“The club will announce the outcome of either case once the relevant internal procedures have been completed.”
Valverde is Uruguay’s main midfielder in Group H at the World Cup. Uruguay’s first match will be against Saudi Arabia on June 15th.
The 27-year-old subsequently posted a statement on social media apologizing to the club and its supporters, but denied that negotiations with his team-mates had gotten out of hand and said he had “accidentally knocked over a table” during an “argument”.
No injuries have been reported for the 26-year-old France international Choameni.
Due to the seriousness of the situation, an emergency meeting attended by club executives was held, and no players left the practice field for more than an hour.
The aim was to stop the escalation of tension that would fray the team’s nerves and tear it apart at a sensitive moment.
The row was reignited earlier this week when defender Alvaro Carreras admitted he had been involved in a violent altercation with a team-mate, but insisted it was an “unimportant one-off incident and has been resolved” after Spanish media reported an incident between him and the club’s German defender Antonio Rudiger.
Madrid’s season unfolded on multiple fronts. Manager Xabi Alonso was sacked midway through the season, and his replacement, Alvaro Arbeloa, was unable to prevent the team from going trophyless for the second year in a row.
After being eliminated by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals, Real trail La Liga leaders Barcelona by 11 points with four games remaining. The two teams will meet on Sunday at the Camp Nou in Clasico, which could decide the title for the Catalans.
In a further embarrassment for the Madrid giants, more than 33 million people have signed a petition calling for the club’s French international Kylian Mbappé to be sold.
The player, who joined from Paris Saint-Germain just two summers ago, is recovering from an injury but has been criticized for leaving Spain and holidaying in Italy to continue his rehabilitation.
It is unclear whether Mbappe will be able to return to action against Barcelona on Sunday.
