A press conference by Real Madrid president Florentino P\u00e9rez, one of the most powerful men in Europe, has turned into a political row engulfing commentors, the media and progressive politicians accusing the football chief of sounding like Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
In a rare QA with the press, P\u00e9rez said he would not step down after a disastrous season, in which Real Madrid failed to qualify for the Champions League final and lost La Liga title to Barcelona. “I am sorry to say that I am not resigning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
P\u00e9rez then announced then the club would hold elections and that he would stand as a candidate once again. But it was what followed that drew the most attention.<\/p>\n
Visibly angry, the 79-year-old criticised recent media coverage of internal tensions at the club, including reports of a dressing-room incident involving players Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni and Federico Valverde, who ended up in hospital. Both were fined.<\/p>\n
P\u00e9rez also became involved in a verbal exchange with journalist David S\u00e1nchez de Castro of ABC over the newspaper\u2019s coverage of Real Madrid. He later announced he would cancel his subscription to ABC, saying: \u201cIt was my father who subscribed me, and I am cancelling it in his honour.\u201d<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez de Castro was not the only ABC journalist mentioned. Referring to two recent articles published by the outlet about the club, P\u00e9rez said: \u201cOne of them was written by a woman. I don\u2019t know if she knows anything about football.\u201d<\/p>\n
He later added, pointing to another journalist: \u201cThat girl there, ask a question. The rest of you are very ugly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s most listened-to radio station, Cadena SER, criticised P\u00e9rez\u2019s comments, saying they reflected \u201carrogance and sexism\u201d.<\/p>\n
ABC described them as \u201coutrageous attacks\u201d intended to \u201ccover up the club\u2019s failures\u201d. The journalist targeted by P\u00e9rez, Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 Fuente\u00e1lamo, said she \u201cdid not expect this\u201d and added that she had only written an opinion column.<\/p>\n
Calculated risk?<\/p>\n
Some commentators in Spain argued that Florentino P\u00e9rez lost his sense of proportion during the press conference, with El Mundo comparing his appearance to a \u201cTrumpist exercise\u201d. Others suggested it was a calculated attempt to divert attention from another trophyless season \u2014 the club\u2019s second in a row.<\/p>\n
That strategy may have backfired, as P\u00e9rez\u2019s comments regarding Barcelona and alleged corruption have prompted the Catalan club to consider possible legal action.<\/p>\n
P\u00e9rez described Barcelona\u2019s alleged corruption as \u201cthe biggest scandal in football history\u201d, claiming that \u201cseven league titles were stolen\u201d from Real Madrid as a result, and announced that a 500-page dossier would be submitted to UEFA, European football\u2019s governing body.<\/p>\n
Spanish media and journalists have largely focused on his comments, but some have also highlighted what was not said. MARCA, traditionally Spain\u2019s most widely read sports outlet, noted that P\u00e9rez avoided addressing the club\u2019s own crisis.<\/p>\n
In what it described as a \u201cconfusing\u201d and \u201cchaotic\u201d press conference, MARCA also said that any form of self-criticism was absent from his remarks.<\/p>\n
Real Madrid is one of the most successful football clubs in modern football, having won more Champions League titles than any other European club. It is widely recognised internationally as a global football brand. P\u00e9rez is the club\u2019s longest-serving president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A press conference by Real Madrid president Florentino P\u00e9rez, one of the most powerful men in Europe, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[92,187,194,1693,82,12059,3613,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-22640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-madrid","8":"tag-barcelona","9":"tag-champions-league","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-florentino-perez","12":"tag-madrid","13":"tag-media-coverage","14":"tag-press-conference","15":"tag-real-madrid"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}