“Alex Baena was the victim of an assault yesterday (Saturday) evening as he was heading to the team bus after the disputed match (and won 3-2) against Real Madrid at the Santiago-Bernabéu stadium. Faced with this situation, the player decided to file a complaint against his attacker with the national police, “said the Villarreal club in a press release this Sunday evening.
According to the sports daily Marca, “a fight between Fede Valverde and Baena took place after the match, in the parking lot where the visiting team’s coaches are parked”: “Valverde punched Baena in the stomach Baena after an altercation between the two men”, adds the best-selling newspaper in Spain.
The ABC daily also reported this fight between the two players, stating that Baena had provoked Valverde during the match.
On his Twitter account, Baena, 21, said he was the victim of an attack, without specifying the context or the perpetrator. “Very happy with this impressive team victory in a venue such as the Santiago-Bernabéu, but at the same time very sad about the aggression I suffered after the match and surprised by what is being said about me” , he tweeted in capital letters on the night of Saturday to Sunday.
“I never said that,” he added, presumably about the alleged insults uttered during the meeting. A Villarreal staff member, Xisco Nadal, tweeted the message “Fede Valverde, hoodlum and coward”, before deleting it.
According to the Spanish press, the conflict between the two players dates back to the round of 16 of the King’s Cup, won 3-2 by Real against Villarreal on January 19. During this match, Baena had made insulting remarks about the complicated pregnancy of Valverde’s partner, a famous Argentine journalist, and he would have made reference to this pregnancy again on Saturday evening.