People inside Real Madrid are said to be worried about how player Aurelien Tchouameni is doing.

Those who were unhappy were talking about how the French player played in Sunday’s 1-1 derby match against Atletico Madrid.

Tchouameni and Luka Modric, who is 39 years old, started the game together in the middle of Madrid’s centre.

But as the game went on, Modric, the older player, made a bigger difference on defence than his younger middle partner.

The Croatian player, who is 15 years older than Tchouameni, left the game with 15 minutes to go, having recovered four balls while the French player had recovered five.

But what really worried people was how Tchouameni played compared to Federico Valverde, who plays for Real Madrid.

It’s true that Valverde is a central midfielder, but he’s often given more freedom to attack. He started the match against Atletico Madrid as more of a right midfielder.

But the Spanish newspaper Diario AS said that Valverde was “often seen covering for Tchouameni or in the spot that he was supposed to be in.”

The report also says that Valverde recovered nine balls and “was seen at times running past his teammate to stop counter-attacks.”

Diario AS said, “there is a certain concern over the performances of Aurelien Tchouameni.”

Carlo Ancelotti, the manager of Real Madrid, didn’t seem to have any problems with the French star’s play, though.

He said, “For me, Tchouameni did well; he had presence.”

Since moving to Madrid for £85 million from Monaco in 2022, Tchouameni has played 97 times in all categories.

But now that Eduardo Camavinga is back in action, Ancelotti will have to make a choice soon.

Camavinga hasn’t played a single minute for Madrid this season because he hurt his knee before the 2024–25 UEFA Super Cup match against Atalanta.

Since then, the 21-year-old has been healthy again. He was on the bench for Sunday’s exciting 1-1 draw between Real Madrid and Atletico, but he did not play.

In the 64th minute, Eder Militao scored for Madrid to take the lead against Atleti. However, the game was stopped because Thibaut Courtois celebrated in a rude way in front of Atleti fans, who threw things at the goalie.

Atleti’s boss Diego Simeone and captain Koke tried to calm down the fans so that they wouldn’t get in more trouble.

But Simeone’s team would win in the end because Angel Correa scored a goal in the 95th minute to give the home team a point.