Florentino Perez gave yet another interview on Wednesday night, doubling down on his belief the European Super League was good for football, and claiming it was still on 'standby.'
On Monday night, Real Madrid president Perez, was on the chief schemers behind the European Super League, gave a lesson in how not to do PR.
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The 74-year-old claimed that he, and his band of money hungry club owners, were going to save football, by not allowing anyone outside of the 12 clubs to compete for the largest amount of money.
Around 24 hours later Perez's plans were in tatters, as all the Premier League clubs backed out of the competition, leaving the Spaniard to stare into the massive void left in his bank account and wondering how he'll survive with a reported net worth of $2.2 billion.
Well despite the setback, the Real chief was back in chatting mode on Wednesday, claiming that the Super League was merely on standby.
"The Super League project is now in stand-by, I can confirm," he told radio station El Larguero.
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"Juventus and AC Milan have not left the Super League. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and AC Milan are still in talks to find solutions.
"If this project didn't work, another one will. Remember: all the 12 clubs have signed a binding contract."
Despite claiming Juventus and AC Milan were still in talks, Juve chairman Andrea Agnelli had said it was 'evidently not the case' that the ESL could go ahead, whilst Milan legend Paolo Maldini apologised for his club's involvement.
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Perez had come up with a number of reasons for the need for the Super League, the most galling of which was the Covid-19 pandemic losing him and 11 of the other richest clubs in the world money.
However he did let it slip that these plans predated the pandemic by quite some way, adding, "I am a bit sad, disappointed. We have been working three years on this project, on fighting the current financial situation in Spanish football. It is easy to understand - you cannot touch La Liga, so you look for more money midweek and UCL format is obsolete.
"I have never seen aggression greater on the part of the president of UEFA and other presidents of Liga, it was orchestrated, it surprised it all. Never seen anything like it - insults, threats, as if we had killed someone, killed football.
"We are just working on saving football [again with the saving football!], after this pandemic. Madrid income falling from 900m to 600m this year. We have worked very hard on something that would satisfy everyone - and we did expect such a response."
Laughably Perez, who was/is trying to organise a tournament where the same 'big' teams always qualify no matter how bad they are claimed other people were trying to hang on to privilege, saying, "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."
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You almost have to admire the cheek that man has, I said almost!
Perez claimed that there was only 40 Chelsea fans at Stamford Bridge to protest ahead of the game with Brighton on Tuesday night, and that they'd been somehow manipulated to be there. Not sure if he thought the Premier League or UEFA had bussed them in but there was definitely more than 40!
The owner of the second most valuable club in the world, with the value rising in the past year, also claimed that the clubs outside the 12 involved in the ESL were making money, whilst their teams lost it.
"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."
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Can't help but think the only one that's lost it is Perez!
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Florentino Perez, European Super League, Football, Premier League, Champions League, Real Madrid, La Liga
