Real Madrid's Internal Crisis Before El Clasico
Real Madrid’s season of discontent found a new low this week, not on a pitch in Europe but behind closed doors at Valdebebas.
Two days out from a Clasico that could see Barcelona crowned champions, Madrid’s training ground turned into a battleground. Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni clashed twice in as many days, the second altercation serious enough to send the Uruguayan to hospital with a suspected head injury.
He was discharged quickly and returned to training. The bruises to the squad’s unity will take longer to heal.
Tempers flare before El Clasico
The first confrontation came at the end of Wednesday’s session. Words were exchanged, then bodies. Team-mates separated Valverde and Tchouameni, but the anger clearly lingered.
On Thursday, it boiled over again. Another flare-up, another physical confrontation, this time ending with Valverde taken away for medical checks. Real Madrid executives, led by president Florentino Perez, have stepped in, opening an internal investigation and preparing disciplinary action.
The timing could hardly be worse. Madrid travel to Barcelona on Sunday, 11 points behind their great rivals at the top of LaLiga. Xavi’s side need only a point at the Camp Nou to clinch the title. Madrid need unity and defiance. Instead, they have crisis meetings and in-house fighting.
Mbappe under fire as petition explodes
While the midfielders traded blows, another storm swirled around the club’s biggest star.
Kylian Mbappe’s name already dominated the Madrid conversation. Now it is at the heart of a staggering show of dissent. An online petition calling for Real Madrid to sell the French forward has surged to 30 million signatures.
The numbers are eye-catching. So is the anger behind them.
Madrid will finish another season without a trophy. For many supporters, that is intolerable on its own. The sight of Mbappe flying by private jet to Sardinia for a romantic break with actress girlfriend Ester Exposito while recovering from a hamstring injury has poured fuel on the fire.
He returned to the Spanish capital on Sunday evening, just minutes before Madrid kicked off away at Espanyol. With Barcelona out of sight in the title race and a Clasico looming, the optics have gone down badly.
His camp insists he had full permission to travel and is following the rehabilitation programme set by the club’s medical staff. The message is clear: no rules were broken. The mood in the stands and online says something else entirely. Frustration in Madrid is growing, and Mbappe has become the lightning rod.
If all 30 million signatures are genuine, the petition would be of record-breaking scale. It also underlines a deeper question: what has Mbappe’s era at Real Madrid actually delivered?
A superstar under scrutiny
Since arriving on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain two summers ago, Mbappe has scored goals, produced moments, drawn crowds. What he has not done is lift a major trophy in white.
The contrast with his former club is brutal. PSG won the Champions League for the first time in the season immediately after his departure and are back in the final later this month. In Paris, the “Mbappe circus” left town; in Madrid, it feels as if it has just set up its tent.
PSG were hardly heartbroken to lose him. His extraordinary talent was never in doubt, but his off-the-ball work-rate remained a long-running complaint. Luis Enrique, widely regarded as one of the elite coaches in the game, was not devastated to see him go. For him, the collective comes first. If you do not run, you do not play.
Watch Mbappe closely without the ball and the criticism is easy to understand. He often drifts around the centre circle, waiting for possession to find him, offering little in terms of pressing or defensive cover. In modern football, with its relentless demands on every outfield player, that kind of luxury role is a tactical gamble.
Can Mbappe and Vinicius really coexist?
That gamble becomes even greater when you pair him with Vinicius Jr.
Real Madrid fans are asking the same question over and over: can a team function with both Mbappe and Vinicius in the same XI? Two superstars who want the ball, want freedom, want to attack. Where is the balance? Who sacrifices? Who runs?
So far, many supporters do not like the answers. That is part of the reason the petition has swelled so dramatically. It is not just about a holiday in Sardinia or a slow jog out of possession. It is about the shape of the team, the identity of the club, and whether this version of Madrid can compete with a ruthless, efficient Barcelona.
Inside Valdebebas, Perez and his directors are dealing with a squad that is literally fighting itself. Outside, millions of fans are signing their names to a demand that the club move on from its marquee forward.
On Sunday night at the Camp Nou, Barcelona can seal the title. Real Madrid, bruised, divided and under siege from within and without, must decide what kind of team – and what kind of club – they want to be when the dust settles.
