Valverde Hospitalized After Altercation with Tchouaméni Days Before El Clasico

Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate Kylian Mbappe's decision take a day off before El Clasico and discuss how Real Madrid should have handled it. (2:37)

Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde is set to miss this weekend's Clásico with a head injury following an altercation that ESPN sources said took place between him and teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni.

The fight broke out during training Thursday and comes just a day after Marca reported that the two midfielders had already been involved in an altercation during Wednesday's training session.

Valverde, according to a source, required stitches after sustaining a cut during the scrap with Tchouaméni and had to be taken to the hospital.

"After the tests carried out today on our player Fede Valverde by the Real Madrid Medical Services, he has been diagnosed with a cranioencephalic trauma," the LaLiga club said in a statement.

"Valverde is at home in good condition and will need to rest for 10 to 14 days, as indicated by medical protocols for this diagnosis."

With that timeline, the Uruguay international is set to miss the Clásico at Camp Nou on Sunday.

Madrid have also announced they have opened disciplinary proceedings against both players.

"The club will announce the resolutions of both cases in due course, once the corresponding internal procedures have been completed," the LaLiga club said.

A source has told ESPN that the fight broke out at the end of training, following a practice match with some heavy challenges. Tchouaméni went to the changing room, and Valverde then entered, looking very tense. That's where they got into a fight, the source said.

A second source told ESPN that Valverde kicked Tchouaméni during training, then they insulted each other, and Tchouaméni went for Valverde and hit him badly. The tension between them started when Xabi Alonso was still at the club, the source added.

"Yesterday, I had an incident with a teammate stemming from a play during training, a situation where the fatigue of competition and sheer frustration caused everything to get blown out of proportion," Valverde said in a statement on Instagram.

"In a normal locker room, things like this can happen, and they are settled amongst ourselves without ever seeing the light of day. However, there is someone evidently behind the scenes who is quick to run to the press with the story adding fuel to a trophy-less season in which Real Madrid is always under the microscope and everything gets magnified.

"Today, we had another run-in. During the argument, I accidentally struck a table, sustaining a small cut on my forehead that required a routine visit to the hospital."

Real Madrid visit Barcelona on Sunday shrouded by uncertainty after another trophyless season.

Last Friday , ESPN revealed that the bad results had moved into the dressing room, and that there had already been several incidents of tension since the start of the season.

Sources told ESPN about another moment of tension when Antonio Rüdiger lost his nerve and caused a heated altercation with a teammate at Valdebebas.

ESPN did not reveal the name of the other person involved at the time, but Álvaro Carreras himself confirmed in a statement that he had had an altercation with a teammate.

In that report, ESPN also revealed other arguments over the past few weeks between Madrid manager Álvaro Arbeloa and several of his players, including Dani Ceballos and another with Raúl Asencio .

Moreover, it is well known that there has been a lack of rapport between club captain Dani Carvajal and Arbeloa since the latter took over as manager.

Following Alonso's sacking, ESPN revealed that the manager left Real Madrid with friction toward three key players in the dressing room -- Vinícius Júnior , Valverde and Jude Bellingham .

Other sources told ESPN that in the last few weeks there have also been some incidents involving another star of the team, Kylian Mbappé , with members of Arbeloa's staff.

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Madrid, meanwhile, are still searching for what will be their fourth manager in the past two years.

Regarding this, sources have informed ESPN that there are differing views between those responsible for selecting the new manager and that there is a long list of candidates, including Jose Mourinho, Jürgen Klopp, Didier Deschamps, Lionel Scaloni, Massimiliano Allegri and even Unai Emery.

_Originally reported by [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/48703097/real-madrid-federico-valverde-taken-hospital-second-aurelien-tchouameni-fight-sources)._