Still broken! Shock report reveals Real Madrid players came to blows
José Mourinho was supposed to be the cure for a fractured dressing room. Five months after his return to the Bernabéu, a bombshell report suggests the patient is as sick as ever.
Details: According to Cadena Ser, via RMC Sport, two unnamed Real Madrid players recently came to blows as tensions once again boiled over at Valdebebas. Journalist Anton Meana delivered a damning verdict on El Larguero: the atmosphere in this locker room is still just as frosty as it was five months ago. The report claims Mourinho has failed to change the dynamic of a group of players who never got along with Xabi Alonso before him and did not get along with Álvaro Arbeloa either, and that the froideur, combined with the ongoing turmoil around Kylian Mbappé, has created a tense climate far from ideal for a defining month of the season.
The timing could hardly be worse. Madrid resume action on Saturday at home to Villarreal after losing the derby 2-1 to Atlético just before the international break, and the calendar ahead is brutal: a trip to Roma in the Champions League on Wednesday, home games against Sevilla and Leipzig, and then the Clásico at Camp Nou on October 25. The dressing room history makes grim reading: Antonio Rüdiger reportedly slapped Álvaro Carreras in February, a clash that stayed hidden for three months, before the infamous Valverde and Tchouaméni bust-up in May that left the Uruguayan hospitalised with a head wound and both midfielders fined €500,000 each. Six players were said to have stopped speaking to Arbeloa before his dismissal, while Dani Ceballos was frozen out following a public feud with the interim coach. Against this backdrop, Mbappé's nightclub outing in Paris, his cycling video and the rejected Ballon d'Or request have only added fuel to the fire, even though the Frenchman returned to group training on Wednesday with his condition described as optimal and Mourinho even considering starting him on Saturday.
It's worth noting that Mourinho is already fighting on multiple fronts: this week he reportedly sat down with Mbappé for a breakfast recalibration at Valdebebas, telling the striker he would defend him in public but not tolerate his behaviour behind closed doors, and on Thursday he called out Raúl Asencio for his mistakes in the derby defeat. The Portuguese built his reputation on uniting squads against the world, and Madrid's hierarchy will be praying the report is exaggerated. With Villarreal, Roma, Sevilla, Leipzig and Barcelona arriving in a five-week avalanche, the alternative does not bear thinking about for the thirteen-time European champions.
Reminder: Will Mbappé play against Villarreal? The answer is known.
Miguel Solomons
Dailysports's expert
