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Questions surrounding the altercation between midfielders Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni dominated Arbeloa’s news conference on Saturday.

The incident left Valverde ruled out of El Clasico because of concussion symptoms, while both players were fined 500,000 euros (£432,000) following a club investigation.

Tchouameni returned to training on Friday and remains available for the match, although Arbeloa declined to confirm whether the France international would start.

“The players have acknowledged their mistake, expressed their regret and asked for forgiveness. That’s enough for me,” Arbeloa told reporters.

“These two players deserve for us to turn the page and allow them to keep fighting for this club. I’m very proud of them. I won’t allow this to be used to question their professionalism.”

Former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Spain defender Arbeloa also suggested dressing-room disputes were not unusual in elite football environments.

“I’ve had a team-mate who picked up a golf club and swung it at another player,” the 43-year-old said.

“What happens in the Real Madrid dressing room should stay in the Real Madrid dressing room, and that’s what hurts me the most.”

Arbeloa was referring to an incident during his time at Liverpool in 2007, when a disagreement between Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise during a training camp in Portugal reportedly escalated into Bellamy confronting his team-mate with a golf club.

“These are situations that have always happened, although I’m certainly not justifying it,” Arbeloa added.

“It was an incident and we were unfortunate that Fede ended up with a gash. It was more bad luck than anything else.”

The Madrid coach also accepted responsibility for the situation.

“If you want to blame someone, here I am,” he said.

Despite the controversy, Arbeloa insisted the focus remained on Sunday’s meeting with Barcelona.

“We face the Clasico with the ambition to do things well and go to win.”

Arbeloa does not appear to have a long-term future in his current post, with reports in Spain already linking several high-profile names, including Jose Mourinho, to the role for next season.

Pressure has also intensified on club president Florentino Perez, with questions being raised over a period that has seen Real Madrid go through three managers in two campaigns without lifting a trophy.

The club’s next appointment is now viewed as one of the most significant decisions of Perez’s presidency, as Madrid attempt to restore stability and competitiveness after a turbulent season on and off the pitch.

Despite the scrutiny, Arbeloa strongly defended the 79-year-old president.

“There is no-one more prepared than Florentino Perez to turn this situation around,” he said.

“I remember how the club was before his arrival. He is the president with the most titles in Real Madrid history and he brought the club back to where it belongs. We all have to fight together.”

The comeback win against Rangers was a huge hurdle cleared for Hearts on an emotional Monday evening at Tynecastle.

However, playing Motherwell at Fir Park this season is among the toughest tests in the league. Only Falkirk, twice, have won there and Motherwell have conceded just nine goals in 17 home games – the fewest of any side in the division.

Hearts put in a conservative performance to get a 0-0 draw in their other visit back in November.

But even the games at Tynecastle between the sides have been keenly contested.

Motherwell were 3-0 up and cruising in August before Claudio Braga inspired a remarkable comeback to earn a draw, in a sign of things to come for the Hearts.

Then Motherwell pushed Hearts to the final few moments last month before succumbing to a 3-1 defeat. Had the visitors been more clinical, it could have been a different result.

Motherwell have already derailed Rangers’ title challenge with a 3-2 win at Ibrox a fortnight ago, and Hearts will be well aware of the threat Jens Berthel Askou’s side pose.

Given Celtic visit Fir Park on Wednesday, Motherwell could well be the kingmakers as they chase fourth place and European football for themselves.

A Hearts victory would be a giant step towards history and ensure Celtic have no room for error. So far the men in maroon have handled everything thrown at them.

Daniel is a very introverted man. He’s not somebody who goes out boasting, and I know he’s taken some stick this week because of that quiet nature.

I am protective of him. I always try to talk to him before we go into any media event, prepare him.

He just doesn’t enjoy that part of the fight game. He’s really not into all the verbals.

Whoever you are, you look at how people behave and what their make-up is. That’s if you want to get the best out of them.

You have to be clever, not sly, in how you deal with it. Good interviewers do that. Daniel does all his talking in the ring.

I don’t think he’ll ever change. His dad is his mentor and that’s all he knows – he’ll look to his dad before answering the question and still usually does.

That family is a tight unit. Some boxers, as they get successful, go partying but he doesn’t do any of that stuff.

After he beat Anthony Joshua, he just wanted to go home.

I had to literally push him into the press room so the world could see him after that magnificent performance.

Our job as promoters is to find something you can bring out and get it to the public, so they want to be on this journey with this fighter.

Sometimes it’s difficult. With Prince Naseem Hamed, for example, it was easy. When I first met Naz, I knew exactly what I was going to do with him and how we were going to promote him.

So some guys are easily promotable, others it can be hard work, but that’s the business we’re in.

But Daniel has come out of his skin a bit lately. The funniest thing for me was when he did the head-to-head with Filip Hrgovic a few fights ago.

Hrgovic said Daniel had no heart, and Daniel just said he was going to knock him out – using an expletive I wouldn’t like to repeat.

I had never heard Daniel even swear before!

Everybody there was like: ‘What is that?’ It was like getting the vicar to swear. He found a voice from within himself.