{"id":19975,"date":"2026-05-09T13:40:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T13:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/19975\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T13:40:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T13:40:34","slug":"real-madrid-fight-arbeloa-asks-to-turn-the-page-says-golf-club-incident-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/19975\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid fight: Arbeloa asks to ‘turn the page’, says golf club incident worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) \u2014 Real Madrid coach \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa has defended players Federico Valverde and Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni, saying their apologies for having scuffled were enough to settle the incident that led the club to fine both of them a whopping 500,000 euros<\/a> ($590,000).<\/p>\n

\u201cMy players recognized their mistake, expressed their remorse and asked for forgiveness,\u201d Arbeloa told reporters in Madrid on Saturday in his first public appearance since the fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is enough for me,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I am not going to do is burn them on a pyre in a town square, because they don\u2019t deserve that. It is time to turn the page.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tussle by the two midfielders<\/a> when Madrid practiced on Thursday ended with Valverde at the hospital to treat a head wound. Valverde said he had hit his head on a table, calling the incident \u201ca meaningless fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madrid said both players apologized to one another the next day when they met with club officials investigating the incident. They also apologized to their teammates, coaching staff and fans.<\/p>\n

The 15-time European champion, however, found the spat a serious enough breach of team discipline to slap the players with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player.<\/p>\n

Arbeloa said he was satisfied with how the club had handled the situation, while also adding that he had seen worse behavior in his playing career as a defender, which included Madrid, Liverpool, West Ham and Spain\u2019s national team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a teammate that hit another with a golf club,\u201d he said, without giving any more detail. \u201cSituations like this have always happened, but I am not justifying them.\u201d<\/p>\n

During Arbeloa\u2019s playing days at Liverpool, teammates Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise were involved in an incident in which Bellamy hit Riise with a golf club prior to a Champions League game at Barcelona in 2007.<\/p>\n

Arbeloa\u2019s harshest words were not for Valverde and Tchouam\u00e9ni, but rather for whoever it was who told the media about the fight. It was first reported by Spanish sports daily Marca.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat what happens in the changing room ends up being filtered (to the media) for me is a betrayal of Real Madrid,\u201d he said. \u201cThese things must stay in the changing room.\u201d<\/p>\n

And now a trip to Camp Nou with everything to lose<\/p>\n

Madrid is facing a second straight season without a major trophy, despite having France star Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/a> on the squad.<\/p>\n

The 43-year-old Arbeloa has only been in charge since January when he was promoted from Madrid\u2019s reserve team to substitute the fired Xabi Alonso<\/a>. It would be a major shock if he is not replaced after the season given the inconsistent play of his star-studded side.<\/p>\n

Arbeloa now has the difficult task of rallying his players for a game at fierce rival Barcelona<\/a> on Sunday. Only a win by Madrid can stop Barcelona from clinching a second straight La Liga title, and even then it would likely just delay a title celebration by Barcelona with the Catalan club 11 points ahead of Madrid with four games left.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no doubt I have to take the responsibility for the fact that we have not risen to the challenge this season,\u201d Arbeloa said. \u201cIt is clear that feelings of frustration and anger can push you into situations that you don\u2019t desire. But now we must focus on (Sunday\u2019s) game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tchouam\u00e9ni will be in Madrid\u2019s squad for the clasico, Arbeloa said, while Valverde is on medical leave recovering from his head injury.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BARCELONA, Spain (AP) \u2014 Real Madrid coach \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa has defended players Federico Valverde and Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni, saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4351,10353,10728,640,10729,82,83,1743,396,10727],"class_list":{"0":"post-19975","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-madrid","8":"tag-athlete-injuries","9":"tag-aurlien-tchouamni","10":"tag-craig-bellamy","11":"tag-federico-valverde","12":"tag-john-arne-riise","13":"tag-madrid","14":"tag-real-madrid","15":"tag-soccer","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-west-ham-united-fc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}