🎙️ All fine despite the brawl?!?! Arbeloa plays down Real chaos

There are situations in which we really wouldn’t want to trade places with other people. Real Madrid head coach Álvaro Arbeloa, a figure who is not entirely without controversy, is certainly one of them right now. 

Before the Clásico against FC Barcelona, in which Madrid’s biggest rival could also wrap up the league title on top of everything else, Arbeloa had to face the press amid the Mbappé chaos and a dressing-room brawl. 

“I’m very proud of the club’s consistency, speed, and transparency. And of the fact that the players admitted their mistake, showed remorse, and apologized. For me, that is enough,” Arbeloa explained. So the two players apparently no longer have to fear consequences from him now. 

“Valverde and Tchouaméni deserve for us to look ahead now and give them the chance to keep fighting for this club. I’m very proud of them. I will not allow this to be used to call their professionalism into question: it is a lie that they are not professionals or that they treated me disrespectfully. That is absolutely false,” he said, still standing by his players despite everything. 

📸 PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU - AFP or licensors

The coach also confirmed that Tchouaméni would be in the squad for the Clásico. Valverde, meanwhile, is out for the time being (presumably because of injuries from the fight). 

Arbeloa denied the reports of problems with some players, including Dani Carvajal:

“It is a lie that anyone is not playing because of problems with me or because of his life outside Real Madrid. I’m the first to take responsibility for the fact that the season probably has not lived up to expectations. What I will not do is publicly sacrifice the players, because they do not deserve that.” In his view, the atmosphere in the dressing room is still a “healthy” one. 

Mbappé’s attitude the problem?

Superstar Mbappé was recently criticized because he was photographed in a good mood despite the tense atmosphere around training. Too cheerful? Definitely not — at least according to his coach. 

“Anyone trying to take a player smiling after training out of context is distorting reality. I can only speak about him, his work, and the way he behaves toward me. If he played, it was because he deserved it, and if he didn’t, it was because someone else deserved it more,” Arbeloa said about the ongoing debate surrounding superstar Mbappé’s behavior. 

Leak inside the team?

“The fact that things from the dressing room are getting out, I see as a betrayal of Real Madrid and its badge,” the Madrid head coach condemned the obvious leaks within the club through which information about the unrest in the team reached the public, but immediately added: “I am accusing neither my players nor anyone else. There are many people at Real Madrid, and I am not here to point the finger at anyone. What happens with my players stays between them and me.” 

What do you think of Arbeloa’s statement? Fair assessment, or should the head coach have used stronger words as well? Feel free to write it in the comments! 

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.