Real Madrid midfielder Valverde: I don't regret Baena clash

Real Madrid midfielder Fede Valverde has recalled his carpark clash with Villarreal's Alex Baena last season.

Valverde attacked Baena in the stadium carpark after their LaLiga claim amid claims he was taunted about his pregnant. Claims which have been denied by Baena.

Valerde wrote for the Players' Tribune: "My wife suffered physically and mentally every day (the doctors had said that her son had little chance of being born). I just closed myself off. I'm someone who keeps everything inside, I never want anyone to see me cry. I had to be the rock, because everyone else was suffering. I was playing a character, the strong, stoic guy who tells his wife, 'Everything will go God's way'.

"I don't want to talk about these bad things anymore. I just want to say this: on a football pitch you can call me whatever you want, it doesn't bother me. I'm Uruguayan, for God's sake. But there are some lines that shouldn't be crossed. Not as a footballer, but as a human being. If you talk about my family, it's not just football anymore.

"Should I have reacted? Maybe not. Maybe I should have gone home and had a hamburger with my son: eaten some chicken nuggets and watched cartoons. But I'm a human being and sometimes you have to defend your family. It hurt me to see how the media portrayed me as a violent person. Many lies have been told that later turned out to be untrue. But I can honestly say that I don't regret anything, because the affair made me grow as a person and united our family even more."