Real Madrid’s Aurélien Tchouaméni chooses the NBA over Villarreal and the Copa del Rey

While Real Madrid were in Copa del Rey last 16 action against Villarreal, Aurélien Tchouaméni was seen at the Accor Arena in Paris, where the Chicago Bulls faced off against the Detroit Pistons in the NBA. This didn’t go to especially well with a section of the Madrid support on social media, who struggled to understand why the midfielder was among the 22,000 fans in attendance at the venue in the French capital rather than supporting his teammates in their cup-tie.

Tchouaméni picked up a calf injury in the league game against Villarreal at Estadio La Cerámica 12 days ago, which Los Blancos described as “pending evolution”. The France international is expected to be out of action for another couple of weeks although it is a surprise that he chose to watch live sport in Paris rather Villarreal on Thursday.

Aurélien Tchouaméni’s Twitter apology to Real Madrid

Later that night, Tchouaméni apologised on Twitter: “I apologise to my club, to the coaching staff, to my teammates and to Real Madrid fans for attending an event at the same time as we had an important game in the cup. I was closely following what was going on in Villarreal at all times but I made a mistake. I am very sorry.”