Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez has made an astonishing rant against UEFA claiming the highly criticized European Super league is still alive despite all top six premier league clubs announcing their withdrawal on Tuesday, April 20.
The Real Madrid president who is the initiator of the audacious project,
hit out at Uefa and other football bigwigs for 'terrible aggression'
and an 'orchestrated' attack on the Europa Super League plans which he
said would 'save football.
The ESL spectacularly fell apart in just two days of chaos when all six
English teams quit on Tuesday night amid a massive backlash.
Newly re-elected Real boss Perez has been one of the most vocal
supporters of a breakaway league and was set to be its president.
Now he claims that no club actually left the European Super League... and he insists it is only on standby, despite the uproar.
Manchester City were the first English team to withdraw on Tuesday with
Chelsea close behind. Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and
Tottenham all followed within minutes of each other later that night.
There were widespread protests at football stadiums around the country
including at Chelsea where Petr Cech was seen calming down fans.
But Perez claims the protests were staged.
Speaking on Spanish show El Larguero, Perez said: “There was a campaign, totally manipulated, that we were going to finish the national leagues. That we were ending football, it was terrible. But we were working for football to survive.
"Who brought those Chelsea fans to protest? Someone moved them. There
were only 40 Chelsea fans, and I could tell who brought them.
“I have never seen aggression greater on the part of the president of
Uefa and other presidents, it was orchestrated. I've never seen anything
like it - insults, threats, as if we had killed someone, killed
football. It was like we had thrown an atomic bomb.
“The problems is they killed us the very next day, with terrible
aggression. We have made some mistakes for sure. But they knew what we
were going to do, and were waiting for us. Those who do not want to lose
their privileges.
“The English PM said things, then the fans and people wanted to damage
us. But when all this passes, and we see the reality, lets see what
happens. These clubs are going to lose millions of euros, and cannot do
that, apart from those in England.
"There are people with privileges who do not want to lose them, and are
willing to run clubs, although when the clubs are ruined they will lose
their privileges.”
“The founder clubs believed in this project. It is not dead. We will keep working.
"Nobody has yet paid the penalisation fee for leaving. We are almost all still in this, they have not left yet.
“Juventus and Milan have not left. Barca are thinking about it. Maybe we
can change it a bit - that the top four in England enter, the top four
in Spain.
"The important thing is that the big teams play each other, so the kids will watch football.
“The contracts are signed by serious people, businessmen who know this
world. We agreed last night to wait and to try and explain better, and
we are open to other ideas.”
Perez, 74, continued: “There was someone in the English six clubs who
did not have much interest. That started to affect the others, there was
fear. One of the English clubs was never really convinced.
“The English clubs tried to do something, but they were being told they
were killing football. But there is no other solution than the Super
League."
Perez insists that the European Super League would've saved football
despite creating a cartel of big clubs guaranteed extra money and entry
every year.
“It cannot be that in England, the six lose money, and 14 make money. In
Spain the top three lose money, and the others make money. It cannot
continue - at the moment the rich are those who are losing money.
“This is a pyramid, and the money runs down, there would be money for
everyone. If Nadal plays Federer, everyone watches, if Nadal plays the
number 80 in the world, nobody watches.
“Football is maintained by the biggest clubs - it always has been.
Cristiano vs Messi was great, not just for Madrid and Barca, but for
Spanish football, and football in general.
“There are games that nobody watches - the truth is I struggle to watch them. In Spain, in England, in Italy.
“In general, there will not be big transfers this summer. When money
does not flow from the rich clubs to the poor clubs, everyone suffers.
“A big guy wears a big suit, a small guy wears a small suit. Everyone has to be comfortable with the suit they wear.
"And the reality comes from the TV viewer figures. This is not capricious, I am just trying to help.”
