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MADRID — Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The hefty fines came a day after the midfielders tussled in training. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. The spat ended when Valverde knocked his head on a table, said he suffered a small cut, and went to a hospital.
The incident led Madrid to open disciplinary proceedings against the teammates, and the fines reflected the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said the disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club "their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another."
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed "opportune."
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media is rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
Madrid faces a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
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