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Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has reiterated he thinks the Super League could “save football”, while adding that he believes the near-universal backlash the plan was received was because it was “presented badly”.
Perez is at the head of the push to form a Super League, which has crumbled in the days since its announcement due to the withdrawals of the six English clubs, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan.
However the Real boss, who has been the subject of criticism from La Liga chief Javier Tebas, remains committed to the idea of a Super League and says he still believes it could be exactly what football needs in the wake of economic hardships caused by and predating the coronavirus pandemic,
What did Perez have to say?
“UEFA put on a show, that I was completely surprised by,” he told Spanish television programme El Larguero. “As if we’d dropped a nuclear bomb. What did we do wrong? Maybe we presented it badly, but why didn’t they let us talk about it.
“It isn’t fair that in England six are losing and 14 winning, that big clubs in Spain are losing money and the small clubs are earning money. Football is a pyramid. If there is money at the top, then the money flows down and everyone gets some.
“At the top [of tennis, [Roger] Federer has to play against [Rafael] Nadal. People don’t go to see Nadal against the 80th in the world.”
He added: “I have never seen aggression like it, from the president of UEFA and the domestic leagues. It seemed orchestrated. Insults, threats, like we killed football. We were trying to save football.”
The road ahead
Despite the Super League setback, Perez believes there will eventually be another proposal and another plan to change what he sees as an “obsolete” current fomat.
“I’m sad and disappointed,” he said. “We’ve been working for years in this, looking to see how to make things better from a football and economic point of view. The leagues are sacred. What we can change is the midweek games. The Champions League is obsolete. It’s only interesting from the quarter-finals.”
“We’re open to someone else coming up with another option than the Super League,” he continued. “It’s not about the rich and poor. Madrid is not rich, it’s rich in trophies. I don’t earn a penny from this. I have to say that in 20 years, if I wanted a shirt, I paid for it. I have the authority to say, that if I’m doing this it’s for the good of football.”
Further reading
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