Florentino Pérez: “I am more optimistic than ever about the Super League”

Florentino Pérez’s speech at the annual Real Madrid members’ assembly, this morning in the basketball pavilion of the Valdebebas Sports City, did not disappoint due to its intensity in the attacks on his obsessions of recent years.

The white president assured that “football is going in the wrong direction”, he harshly attacked UEFA and the Football League, said regarding the European Super League that he is “more optimistic than ever” and also showed his anger at the awarding of the Ball. of Gold for Rodri: “He is a great footballer, but this year he didn’t deserve it. They have compensated him for not giving it to him last year (they gave it to Messi). This year surprising things have happened in the vote. Without the votes of Namibia, Uganda, Albania and Finland, Vinícius would have won,” he said.

Florentino Pérez, on the other hand, did not say a word about two topics that were expected because they appear every day on the club’s television: the Negreira case and the referees.

another assembly

Change in the model

The big news this year, which is not on the agenda and therefore could not be voted on, was Pérez’s announcement to soon organize a new members’ meeting (for which he did not give a date) in which the the change of model in the ownership of the club “in order to prevent the League from expropriating our commercial rights, as it wanted to do recently through an amendment to the new sports law promoted by the League, an amendment that was not approved thanks to the agreement between PSOE and PP, and also the help of FC Barcelona and Athletic Club, that the same thing was going to happen to them as it did to us,” he explained. Although he did not say it explicitly, the idea is to turn partners into shareholders. He did say that what is approved in the assembly will have to be endorsed by the members in a referendum.

The president charged his batteries especially against UEFA: ”The new format of the Champions League is unfair and nobody understands it. As there are more matches, the value of each one has dropped almost 30%. There are more games, but they are worth less. This competition will only arouse excitement at the end and not at the beginning. The ruling on the Super League is historic. Our proposal to give football for free is innovative. Today I am more optimistic than ever. We never said it would be easy. “It has been something titanic, with pressure and threats,” he stated. He did not set dates on this issue either, although his idea was to start it next September.

And he added: ”Football is going in the wrong direction. It is being detrimental to professionals, increasing injuries. This season we can play 82 matches, with 63% more matches organized by UEFA and FIFA: it has gone from 22 to 36 (14 more). This League has already produced nine cruciate ruptures, the same as in the entire last season. Specialists suggest that the cause is fatigue.”

Rodri

“He didn’t deserve this year’s Ballon d’Or. “He had to win last year.”

The issue of granting the Ballon d’Or to Rodri was also commented on by the president: “Rodri is a great footballer and he is from Madrid. He has all our love, but he did not deserve this year’s Ballon d’Or. “They have compensated him for not having won last year, which is when he deserved it for having won the treble last year with City.”

Relations with Barça

“With Barcelona we have to help each other because we go hand in hand on many issues, beyond what someone says or what happens in a game”

In his response to one of the partners Florentino Pérez reprimanded one who asked him to break relations with FC Barcelona: “With Barcelona we have to help each other because we go hand in hand on many issues, regardless of what someone says or what what happens in a game. We believe that we are the best club in the world but Barcelona is also among the greatest without a doubt and we have the classic. Why are we going to get angry with Barcelona? “If we read what someone says in the newspapers we would be angry all day,” he commented.

Florentino Pérez described the fact that he did not have the permits to hold the concerts as a hoax and assured that he was working to solve the problem of their stoppage, but it is something that is not very lucrative for us: “It does not give us even 1% of the budget. “It’s more prestige for the city than anything else.”

The president boasted about the youth team, in which he included Vinícius, Rodrygo and Fede Valverde because they arrived when they were 18 years old and played several games with Castilla. Someone also asked him if they were members and if in that case those arrested had been expelled from the club for insulting Lamine Yamal in the classic. He didn’t answer.

The votes

In one of the votes there were 1,776 yeses and 4 noes; in which there were more contrary votes was in the social quotas: 24

The votes to approve the accounts (the budgets of last season and the current one) offered the result of every year, approvals with scandalous majorities. In one of the votes there were 1,776 yeses and 4 noes. In the one with the most votes against, the one that voted on social quotas, those against reached 24.