Aurélien Tchouaméni spoke to L’Équipe just two days before France’s World Cup debut against Senegal, addressing both his expectations for the tournament and the recent controversy involving Fede Valverde.

The Real Madrid midfielder, who is set to feature in his second World Cup, admitted he cannot afford another season without silverware and reflected on the incident that sparked headlines at the end of the campaign.

Tchouaméni also confirmed that he has spoken again with Valverde after their altercation, explaining that the matter has now been resolved within the squad.

“Like I said, what bothered me were the false stories that came out about what really happened. I can't control that. The most important thing is that we're all okay and calm in the locker room. A lesson learned? That no matter what happens in your life, the problem is never as big as you think it is. Like everything else, today they're talking about this, tomorrow they'll be talking about something else. You just have to endure the two or three days when there's a commotion. This story grew to such an extent that for the first two or three days we felt like it was never going to end. And in reality, after two or three days, someone says something else crazy or another story comes up and you move on to something else.”

“But you have to understand: there’s no problem. A lot of things happen in a locker room. We shook hands when he came back and we continued working together.”

When asked whether he had spoken to Valverde again, he confirmed their relationship remains normal.

“Yes, of course! We’ve trained together. However, we haven’t played together again because he had a muscle strain in the last league match.”

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