Real Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa seemed to hold little rancour towards Fede Valverde or Aurelien Tchouameni after their fight on Thursday after training, even praising both for their professionalism and reactions. Yet he did have stern words for whoever leaked the story to the press, with details appearing in the media hours later.
Last week Arbeloa, on that occasion responding to rumours that Dani Ceballos and himself had cut communication, told the press that what happens in the dressing room should stay there. He described the leak as the most painful part of the ordeal.
“I’ve had a teammate who grabbed a golf club and hit another player with it. What happens in the Real Madrid dressing room should stay in the Real Madrid dressing room, and that’s what hurts me the most. These situations have always happened, but I’m not justifying it in any way. It was an incident, and we were unlucky that Fede ended up with a cut; it has more to do with bad luck than what actually happened. They’ve apologized, and from here on out, we need to focus on the game.”
Arbeloa continued on to refer to it as a betrayal for the club.
“I repeat, leaking things that happen in the dressing room seems to me a betrayal and disloyalty to this badge,” he commented, but did not have any insight on who might have been responsible.
“No, I don’t work for the CIA and I’m not accusing the players; there are many people involved with Real Madrid. What happens with my players will remain between them and me, and we have to set an example.”
One of the headlines in the Madrid press the day after the incident was focused on Real Madrid’s search for the leak. This week altercations between Alvaro Carreras and Antonio Rudiger have also made it into the public domain, as has reported malcontent with Kylian Mbappe. Now the dressing room does have something to unit around: finding the mole.
