Real Madrid interim manager Alvaro Arbeloa has drawn inspiration from his time at Liverpool in forgiving Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde for a fight in the Real Madrid dressing room.
Valverde reportedly had to visit the hospital having been drawn into an altercation with Tchouameni, with Arbeloa left to pick up the pieces.
Teammates fighting in football is not new, of course, and Arbeloa harked back to one of the most infamous battles of recent times: Craig Bellamy’s golf club attack on then Liverpool colleague John Arne Riise in 2007.
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Arbeloa references Bellamy’s golf club attack
At the time Bellamy beat Riise with a golf club during a team bonding trip to the Algarve, Arbeloa was just a few weeks into his career with Liverpool.
The Spaniard was all set to deliver one of the most memorable full debuts of the Rafa Benitez era as he shut down Lionel Messi at the Camp Nou, and must have been stunned to witness Bellamy’s drunken moment.
Asked if he had ever experienced anything like the issue between Tchouameni and Valverde during a hotly-anticipated press conference on Saturday, Arbeloa confirmed that he had, 19 years ago with Liverpool.
“I had a teammate who picked up a golf club and hit another with it,” the coach answered.
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“What happens in the Real Madrid dressing room should stay in the Real Madrid dressing room and that is what hurts me the most.
“These are situations that have always happened but I am not justifying it, far from it. It was an incident and we were unlucky that Fede ended up with a gash, it has more to do with the bad luck of what really happened.
“They have apologized and from there on we have to think about the match.”
Arbeloa may not have been expecting this outlandish experience to come in useful in his future career. But, if it can happen at Liverpool, then it can certainly happen amid the sprawling egos of Real Madrid.
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