On the evening of April 8, Real Madrid lost 3-2 to Villareal to dent their hopes of retaining the La Liga title this season. However, what made more news is the fact that Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde punched Villarreal player Alex Baena in the parking lot after the match.
Now, the Spanish FA competition Committee, an independent disciplinary body will investigate the matter where both Valverde and Baena will be interviewed to describe what really happened if found guilty, Valverde could face a match ban spanning between four and a maximum of 12 domestic matches.
However, the silver lining for Valverde is that a judge may feel the committee lacks jurisdiction to punish Valverde since the incident didn’t happen during the game itself. It should be noted that although neither Villareal nor Baena reported the assault to the Spanish Football Federation, he pressed charges against Valverde to the police.
The cause
According to ESPN, Baena made distasteful comments about Valverde’s family during the match, saying, “Cry, because your child won’t be born” during a Copa de Rey match between Real Madrid and Villareal referring to reports of Valverde’s partner Mina Bonino miscarriage fears.
Baena took to social media to deny ever saying those words to Valverde saying, “[..] very sad about the aggression I suffered after the match. [I am] surprised by what is being said about my person. It is totally false that I said [comments about Valverde’s family].”
In a statement released shortly after, Villareal stood with their player, saying, “Once again, Villarreal CF rejects any act of violence and firmly believes in the version of its player and will support him throughout this process.”
